Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener: How to Create Unique Vegetables and Flowers

by Joseph Tychonievich

It’s the holy grail of gardening: a plant that perfectly matches your tastes and the conditions in your garden. The hitch? You’re not likely to find it at your local garden center. You’re going to have to create it yourself.

But don’t worry—it isn’t hard. After all, gardeners have been doing it for centuries, simply by saving seeds of the varieties that tasted or performed best. But you’ll get even better results by following the advice in Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener. You’ll learn how to set achievable goals in your breeding program; the ins and outs of genetics; how to pick the best parent plants; how to cross-pollinate; the best techniques to use for popular vegetables and flowers; and how to harvest and store seeds.

In no time at all, you’ll be producing a tomato perfect for your palette, a pepper with just the right amount of heat, or a more fragrant rose!

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Science

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Joseph Tychonievich gardens in his Williamsburg, Virginia yard. And in a friends yard. And with lights in his closet. He pretends that this is necessary research to write his books and magazine articles about gardening. Thankfully his husband accepts this, and the unpredictable deluges of vegetables he grows, with grace. Joseph is the author of several books including The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food: Step-by-Step Vegetable Gardening for Everyone and Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style. He is the editor of the North American Rock Garden Society quarterly journal.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just totally basic. I didn't have any particular expectations, but this book does not contain the kind of detail that a really ambitious home gardener would need. It's very can-do, but like many books that urge readers to "just get started," there's very little in the way of specific technical data to work from. I guess I wanted to know more about the heritability of different kinds of traits, specific facets of plant selection to be attuned to that a normal grower might not be aware of, etc.

This is not that book. If you're a gardener who buys starts from the Home Depot but you want to get in to seed saving, this is probably enough information for you. So that's a 2 in my book. Anyone already saving seeds is probably going to want more information than this.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains helpful information about breeding some basic plants and includes many useful resources. I appreciated that the author did not write using complicated technical jargon. The messages were clear and the book was a quick read, easy to put down and pick up again.

[Ioana Silvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and informative. Very useful for a budding plant breeder.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative book!

This book has a lot of information on breeding your own plants for certain traits. It breaks down plant anatomy, how to pollinate your plants, how to select traits, and more. There's also information on how to save your seeds and what to expect with the next generation of plants. It's a pretty intensive guide at times which could be helpful for someone who wants to seriously breed plants. The book also has information specific to breeding certain flowers and vegetables, while other sections have overviews of how to apply the skills to breeding plants in general.

Overall an interesting find.

[Sigrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

More in depth than what I'm interested in taking on in my own garden, but invaluable scientific comprehensively information broken down for lay people. The way the author wrote made a daunting topic seem far more within reach. A must read for any gardener interested in propagating from their own stock.

[Justen Waterhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good introduction for the plant layman, much less a layman to plant breeding and genetics. It's a quick and easy read. The last chapter gives practical examples of the plant breeding process for different types of flowers and vegetables. There are some useful websites/ resources/ further reading included in the back matter.

[bookmouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

good section on individual plants and some good references

[BJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough and covered a number of flowers and vegetables to hybridized

[Kamal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that delivered on its promises. Not only was the author's infectious enthusiasm a pleasure, but also was his keen knowledge of plant genetics. Having read this book, and with Tychonievich's constant encouragement that "You can do it!", I feel ready to start a breeding program of my own in my modest little garden. I also learned a great deal about genetics in this very accessible book. It's a great primer for beginners. The only real criticism I have is that some sections needed more illustrations and diagrams in order to explain some of the genetic processes (e.g., the formation of triploids) and breeding techniques and procedures (e.g., emasculation of flowers) than the book provides. The descriptive account just wasn't enough to visualize these in my mind's eye. But overall, a fun and informative read.

[Jhawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of "Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener" can be very opinionated about some things but in a humorous way. I enjoyed this book. The author covers the basics of how to do crosses and how to document them without being dogmatic or extremely complicated. He provides a good selection of plants as a way of showing you what you can do.His description of mulitploidy was very valuable, especially helping me to understand crosses between diploid and tetraploid plants. The information is concrete enough to be able to apply it to your own work.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author’s joy in his hobby is evident on every single page of this little book, which explains how to create new varieties of your favorite plants. The chapter “Genetics Made Easy” is so clear and readable – I wish I had had that when I was taking high school science classes! He really makes plant-breeding sound like fun, and has almost talked me into a new hobby (as if I didn’t already have enough of those!).

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I was looking for, very practical, clear and fun to read. One nice thing is that the author is from michigan, and we often don't hear from author/gardeners living in climates that aren't California. Picked this up from my library, will be buying it for reference. Expect to see hybrid tomatoes soon!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very informative book. Chock full of "average-people" language. If you are enthralled with gardening like I am, you will find that this book takes you a little deeper into an understanding of how new plants come to be. Its seems very simple to do. And with perseverance I am convinced there will be success!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable book, the author does a great job of making a very science-y topic interesting and not too dry with lots of humor too. Will have to get it again (maybe buy) once I start my own breeding.

Excellent description for breeding my favs, columbines!

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to read if you are interested in trying your had at plant breeding in your own backyard. Easy to read language. Lots of good information on the things one needs to consider. Positive and encouraging.

[Fern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for anyone wanting to know more about their plants and how they reproduce. Very simple instructions for creating your own varieties.

[Jamie Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It made a complicated subject seem very accessible & was entertaining at the same time.

[Emily Fortuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read, fantastically written and very accessible. Highly recommended for gardeners looking to explore plant breeding!