Volume 135
Part 2
A decade ago few could have predicted the scale of change in the seed industry, with food plants taking precedence over ornamentals. Some retailers now place pansies and salvias at the back of catalogues, rather than the front. I recall visiting the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in the early 1990s and seeing a field of strange mixtures of salad leaves: mizuna, ‘Bull’s Blood’ beetroot and rocket, among others. ‘We’re just trying these out on behalf of the salad industry,’ we were told. Little did I suspect how mixed bags of salad leaves would transform our buying and eating habits but a few years later.
Potatoes, too, have had a resurgence of interest. While heritage selections are popular, many are prone to disease such as blight. New, resistant cultivars are needed, so breeders are returning to the original gene pool in South America to create new cultivars.
Ian Hodgson, Editor
Sample Articles