breeding vegetables

so breeding your own plants is easy,
and you will likely end up doing it without even knowing it,

the real secret is to save the seeds from the plants that you would like more of the next year.

and if you cross 2 types together first, then the breeding will go faster.

I grew a silverline melon this year,
I got the seeds from the grocery store,
and it was very likely a hybrid version, so they already made the first cross for me,
they took 2 kinds, each one with some thing it did that they wanted, and they mixed them,
I then grew the seeds from that mix,
and I got melons that did not look like the original one I got at the store,

each plant made a slightly new kind of melon,
I measured one at 15% BRIX and one at 13%, you don't need a BRIX measurer, you can taste that one is sweeter than the other,
one of my melons had ribs on it, and several others were smooth, and one had what looked like a big belly button...

the breeding comes in when I pick what seeds to plant next year,
and I will be picking the sweet one that was smooth, that is what I like, so that is what I get to plant.
after a few years of planting the ones that are the sweetest and smooth (and that grows well in the conditions here) then all the seeds should grow the same kind of melon,
and that is it,
it is very easy once you get the idea,
and you can eat all of the food along the way to doing it.

there are entire books about how to do this,
http://www.caroldeppe.com/byovv.html
but the idea is really so simple you should not need to read it.

if you save any of your own seeds you will end up breeding the plants,
it may be at random,
but once you are saving seeds to replant you are maintaining the variety (even if you are doing a bad job)
so keep that in mind and save the seeds you like.

and here is the evil that lurks outside (finally got a picture of it, yay !)

to bad the kitties will not go hunt deer