Indeed, when a plant is multiplied year after year in a given environment, imperceptible genetic modifications occur, allowing the plant to adapt better and better to the environmental conditions.
The example of corn
The ancestors of corn, teosintes and grama grass, are native to a mountainous region in the state of Puebla south of Mexico City. It is estimated that they began to be cultivated there around 9 years ago. Archaeologists have discovered that 000 years ago, ancient gardeners "took" corn out of its native region to cultivate it in the lowlands of the Yucatan, the Caribbean and equatorial South America. Subsequently, they will help it colonize the tropical plains, then the temperate zones. Around the year 3, corn began to be cultivated on the southern plains of the United States. When the first explorers arrived at the beginning of 000e century, corn is cultivated intensively over more than 5 kilometers from south to north. During the following centuries, farmers continued to “adapt” corn to other climatic conditions.
It was not until the end of the 19e century that William Beal, an American botanist who pioneered the development of corn hybridization, and Georges Shull, a plant geneticist of American origin, developed work related to hybridization. The first American hybrids were marketed in 1948 and the European hybrids in 1957.
In fact, our gardening ancestors have participated in improving varieties for more than 5 years, while the technique of hybridization is not even a hundred years old.
Today, corn has grown from a north-south range of 5 kilometers to more than 000 kilometers. In North America, corn is grown from 9e parallel, the Bas-Saint-Laurent region in Quebec, to the south of 40e parallel in the region of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Without the meticulous work of Native American, then American, Canadian and Quebec gardeners... and of nature, the extent of this culture would be much less.
A natural crossing is an operation of fertilization of the flower without human intervention, while a hybridization is an operation of fertilization of the flower directed by the hand of a hybridizer who selects two genetically different plants.
A genetic process
For thousands of years, when it came to saving seeds for the next year, gardeners selected the most beautiful plants, the most beautiful seeds. Without knowing the scientific reasons, they stood out among the plants which had undergone slight genetic modifications. Indeed, during the fertilization of the flower, particularly in plants that have cross-pollination, there is a mixture of genes between the female and the male. These genetic modifications are made on visible characteristics such as the shape of the plant or the size of the fruits, but also on less obvious characteristics such as adaptation to climatic conditions.
French gardeners of the 19the century had so well anticipated this adaptation to regional conditions that they had given the name of the region or the city to their variety: round garlic from Limousin, asparagus from Argenteuil, early cabbage from Tourlaville, carrot from Croissy, melon from Cavaillon, etc. At the Jardins de l'écoumène, we continue this tradition by offering the Mémé de Beauce tomato, the Manitoba tomato or the Oka melon, but also the Milan de Pontoise cabbage, the Chioggia beet, the Petit Provençal pea and many more. 'others.
Local seeds
Photo credit: the Gardens of the Ecoumene
When a seed company locally cultivates plants intended for seed production, such as the fact Les Jardins de l'écumène, it benefits from these slight genetic modifications. From year to year, plants therefore become more adapted to the surrounding climatic conditions.
On the other hand, at a general seed company, the seeds can come from as far away as European or African countries with climatic conditions that are often very different from a Quebec garden. This is why a plant of Rocquencourt bean butter, from a cultivation in Les Jardins de l'écoumène in Lanaudière has slightly different characteristics than the same variety produced by a French seed company. Present in Quebec for more than 100 years, this variety has had plenty of time to adapt.
“He who can do more can do less,” says the proverb. The seeds from Jardins de l'écoumène, grown in zone 4, are adapted to the vast majority of climatic conditions in Quebec.
An additional advantage
Photo credit: the Gardens of the Ecoumene
At Jardins de l'écoumène, our varieties adapt particularly well to the climatic conditions of Quebec, because we only grow open-pollinated varieties, also called open-pollinated varieties. The seeds that we obtain therefore come from a genetic mix where the characteristics of adaptation to environmental conditions are very present. For more information on this subject, read Écouinfo: Patrimonial, open-pollinated or F1 hybrid. On the other hand, for F1 type hybrid varieties, each year a traditional seed company must use the original parents, which, of course, considerably reduces genetic mixing and therefore adaptation to climatic conditions.
Adaptation to climatic conditions, genetic mixing, solidarity with local commerce, reduction of GHG emissions, etc., these are many good reasons to buy your seeds vegetable gardens et herbaceous, which are also organic, at Les Jardins de l'écoumène.
