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Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties : The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding & Seed Savingby Carol Deppe Paperback - 384 pages 2 edition (December 2000) Chelsea Green Pub Co ISBN: 1890132721 Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x 9.26 x 7.48 Check price @ amazon.com , amazon.ca , amazon.co.uk Customer Reviews Reviewer: Thomas Leo Ogren from San Luis Obispo, CA United States I bought this book a few months ago and have been enjoying it very much. I am a hardcore gardener and for many years now I have been breeding my own roses and have also done some hybridizing with begonias. I had never tried crossing vegetables though. After reading Carol Deepe's neat book though, I've decided that starting next spring I will be making some hybrid crosses with vegetables, for sure. Most people who garden do not really understand the whole process of making crosses, of creating new hybrids. This book explains it very clearly and gardeners will find out that it isn't really difficult at all. Quite simple actually, and with some often remarkable rewards. As explained well in this text, vegetables today are mostly bred just for the market, for things like better shipability. Breeding for taste and other such, is pretty well now left up to the amateur breeders. My point here is that if you want to grow the best vegeatbles, you almost need to start crossing your own. One of the biggest pleasures of creating your own vegetable crosses is that they are YOUR OWN. You can then grow things that no one else is growing, planting seeds that are not for sale anywhere. This can add a huge amount of pleasure to gardening. It just makes it all much more fun. This book is useful, interesting, well written and easy to understand. It would make a great present for anyone who loves to garden and by all means get one for yourself, too. It will easily pay for itself the very first season you own it. A dandy book! Reviewer: Merry Youle from Ocean View, HI USA I fell in love with the first edition of Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, and I am even more delighted with this second edition (published in December, 2000). It is rare to find an author with Carol Deppe's depth of scientific knowledge who is able to distill what is most useful from that knowledge and combine it with a large dose of practical experience. Add to this the fact that Deppe is a captivating storyteller, and you have an informative book that is truly a delight to read. While Deppe clearly has one foot in the world of genetics and the science of plant breeding, the other she has firmly planted among the peas and squash in her own garden. She relates tales of her garden ventures and introduces you to other adventuresome plant breeders. As you read on, you will find yourself daydreaming about a new variety, perhaps a tomato that would have "real" tomato flavor, be extra nutritious, grow happily in one of your homemade tomato cages, and thrive in your garden. But, as Deppe explains, the only way to get that variety is to breed it yourself. The professional plant breeders won't do it for you. Their attention is focused on a few commercially important food crops, their goal the development of those traits that are of benefit to commercial growers, such as suitability for mechanical harvesting and long distance transport. Deppe's focus is on breeding varieties that, among other things, thrive under organic and/or sustainable growing conditions. Gardeners and small scale farmers can, and do, breed the varieties they want. Although successful plant breeding doesn't necessarily require a lot of time or garden space, it does require some knowledge---thus, the primary need for this book. The technical chapters are well-crafted guides to the principles of genetics combined with practical and workable strategies for applying those principles. Especially useful are the sections on designing garden trials and on how to be certain you are indeed selecting for the traits you want. There are also detailed illustrated instructions showing how to breed eight popular vegetables: tomato, lettuce, pea, bean, corn, onions and relatives, cabbages and relatives, and squash/pumpkins. An appendix contains essential data for breeding 801 cultivated vegetables and their wild relatives, useful information for all plant breeders. Deppe also shares many practical techniques, methods, and strategies, gleaned from years in the garden. These tips are invaluable. They get you thinking about ways that you could experiment and explore more with the garden resources you have. And when things don't go quite as hoped, she reminds you that you can eat your mistakes. At the heart of any plant breeding venture is good seed saving practice. Even gardeners who do not consider themselves to be plant breeders, when faced with the disappearance of their old favorites from the seed catalogs suddenly want to save their own seed. There are a number of factors you must handle properly if you are going to save your own seed and maintain vigorous, pure strains. The six new chapters added to this edition to cover this area take seed saving much farther than has been done elsewhere. There is a whole chapter devoted to selecting the individual plants from which you will want to save seed, while other chapters discuss isolation practices, the number of plants required, and other factors. Even if all the vegetables on your table come from the grocery store, you might want this book for the new chapter that compares the advantages and limitations of classical plant breeding techniques with those of genetic engineering. Deppe provides a perceptive discussion of the results, both intended and unanticipated, of applying genetic engineering to the development of food crops. She also explains why classical plant breeding methods remain an important, and in many instances preferable, tool for enhancing our food supply. All in all, an informative, insightful, and most enjoyable book that is an essential guide for gardeners and small scale farmers alike. A Beginner's Guide to Vegetable Gardening by B. Rosie Lerner CD-ROM (August 1, 2001) Purdue Research Foundation ISBN: 093168286X Cubed Foot Gardening : Growing Vegetables in Raised, Intensive Beds by Christopher O. Bird Paperback - 175 pages (October 2001) The Lyons Press ISBN: 1585743127 The Tomato in America : Early History, Culture, and Cookery by Andrew F. Smith Paperback - 224 pages Reprint edition (December 2001) Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) ISBN: 0252070097 Heirloom Vegetable Gardening : A Master's Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History by William Woys Weaver Hardcover - 442 pages (April 2002) Book Sales ISBN: 0785814299 Melons for the Passionate Grower by Amy Goldman, Victor Schrager (Photographer) Hardcover - 160 pages (May 25, 2002) Artisan ISBN: 1579652131 The Fragrant Chilli by Michael Bailes Paperback - 160 pages (August 2001) Simon & Schuster (Paper) ISBN: 0743218167 Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland by Andrea Ray Chandler Paperback - 223 pages (April 2001) Taylor Pub ISBN: 0878332588 Growing Vegetables by Tony Biggs Paperback (March 1, 2001) Trafalgar Square ISBN: 1840001526 Landscaping With Fruits and Vegetables by Fred Hagy, Clare McCanna (Illustrator) Hardcover - 280 pages (February 15, 2001) Overlook Press ISBN: 1585671207 100 Vegetables and Where They Came From by William Woys Weaver, Signe Sundberg-Hall (Illustrator) Hardcover - 288 pages (October 20, 2000) Algonquin Books ISBN: 1565122380 The Midwest Fruit and Vegetable Book : Illinois by James A. Fizzell Paperback - 312 pages (March 2001) Cool Springs Press ISBN: 1930604165 Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties : The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding & Seed Saving by Carol Deppe Paperback - 384 pages 2 edition (December 2000) Chelsea Green Pub Co ISBN: 1890132721 The Fruit & Vegetable Garden by Richard Bird Paperback - 168 pages (September 2000) ISBN: 0754806103 Vegetables by J.I. RODALE Paperback - 112 pages 1st edition (March 2000) ISBN: 0875968406 Peppers : Vegetable and Spice Capsicums (Crop Production Science in Horticulture Series) by P. W. Bosland, E. J. Votava Paperback (March 2000) CABI Publishing, CAB International ISBN: 0851993354 My Vegetable Love : A Journal of a Growing Season by Carl H. Klaus Paperback - 344 pages (March 2000) University of Iowa Press ISBN: 0877457077 Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades : The Complete Guide to Natural Gardening by Steve Solomon Paperback - 368 pages 5th edition (March 2000) Sasquatch Books ISBN: 1570612404 Edible Pepper Garden, The (The Edible Garden Series) by Rosalind Creasy Paperback - 108 pages (March 2000) Periplus Editions ISBN: 9625932968 How to Grow Organic Vegetables in Containers (Anywhere!) by Eileen M. Logan Paperback - 128 pages (March 2002) ISBN: 0595217729 You Bet Your Tomatoes: Fun Facts, Tall Tales, and a Handful of Useful Gardening Tips by Mike McGrath Paperback - 96 pages (February 2002) Rodale Press ISBN: 0875968708 Gardener's Table : A Guide to Natural Vegetable Growing and Cooking by Richard Merrill, Joe Ortiz Paperback - 464 pages (April 2000) Ten Speed Press ISBN: 0898158761 |
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