June 23, 2021

How To Landrace Garden Vegetables

The purpose of this blog post is to summarize key information from Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination by Joseph Lofthouse. That link will take you to its Amazon page, while my book review is here. I'm starting some experiments in this, so I'll be referring to the process a lot in future gardening posts. I figured it would be easier to simply offer a link to this post, rather than explain it every time. 

How To Landrace Garden Vegetables

Landrace: A locally-adapted, genetically-diverse, promiscuously-pollinating food crop.

1. Save seeds from your favorite varieties. Local adaptation is only possible if you are saving your own seeds.

2. Plant two or three varieties close together to encourage cross-pollination. Can be heirloom, open-pollinated, or F1 hybrid seed.

3. Save seeds from the veggies you like best. Replant these next growing season.

4. Repeat every year. Best results come from local community grown and shared seed. 

The book goes into some detail as to which veggies are best for this and which are more challenging. I'll be following those principles and will explain them as I go, but for this post, I just want to have a brief how-to to refer to in future blog posts. 

20 comments:

daisy g said...

Interesting concept! I need to get better at saving seeds. ;0D

Leigh said...

Daisy, indeed. I highly recommend Joseph's book! It will provide lots of interesting details. It's a good read, upbeat, and very encouraging.

SmartAlex said...

it was interesting watching my PaPaw's famous tomatoes adapt from a Kentucky hot house to a New York veggie patch. It only took about three years. They are so adaptable! I have a couple other finicky varieties that I am working on

Leigh said...

From what I understand, tomatoes are a challenge. So good for you, Alex! Have you blogged about the veggies you're working to adapt? It would be interesting to read about.

Ellen Leigh said...

I have done this for many many years with certain annual flower seeds. I did notice that within a couple of years the germination rate increased as the seeds became adapted to my seed starting system. I ended up with plants that were better suited to my uses for them. I will definitely be trying this with vegetable crops, and indeed started a couple of years ago with a couple of different crops that I can no longer buy seeds for.

Leigh said...

Ellen Leigh, interesting! You are confirming everything I read. I've got my first experiment started and am looking forward to better results!

Susan said...

I had heard the term, but didn't know what it meant. It makes such good sense!

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

What do you know. I have been landracing for years and had no idea. In my case, it is partially due to the fact that in this darn heat and humidity, only certain things grow.

Leigh said...

Susan, it wasn't until I read Joseph's book that it finally made sense to me. I'm excited to begin experimenting!

Leigh said...

TB, good for you! I wish I'd known about it sooner, considering my poor germination rates. It's a relief to have an answer.

Debby Riddle said...

Old wisdom re- visited, I will definitely be reading more about this. thanks for sharing.

wyomingheart said...

What a great topic, and definitely something I need to explore! Looking forward to your future report on the progress! Have a great weekend!

Rain said...

Hi Leigh :) Oh I've never heard of this before! Interesting! I hope you have success with it.

Rosalea said...

This is really, really interesting Leigh, and it makes sense. I always have better germination with seeds I've saved. It will be interesting to follow your journey.

Leigh said...

Debby, exactly! If you've been having trouble with germination, then this is definitely a subject to learn about.

Leigh said...

Wyomingheart, I'm making a start with cucumbers this year. Really excited about it. :)

Leigh said...

Rain, it's new to me too, and I confess it took awhile to wrap my head around it. I'm hoping it makes a big difference in my garden production. I need all the help I can get!

Leigh said...

Rosalea, I think home-saved seed is always an advantage. And it seems like volunteers do especially well. Hopefully, this will help me grow more consistent results!

Scott said...

I do this with several plants, peas, runner beans, chilli beans, calendula. I do it with tomatoes but I've found this year my sauce variety isn't growing all that well. I may get new seed of it next year, though it could be the soil I have it in which is fairly low in nutrients

Leigh said...

Scott, I love hearing that you are doing this and would be interested in more about your results. I have trouble with tomatoes every year. My long term hope is that as the soil improves, so will my tomatoes.