Pots & Trowels The Gardening Podcast · Martin Fish, Jill Fish, Sean Riley

Creating New Vegetable Breeds, Fuchsia Flowering Question & Wisteria? Wonder no More!

·40 min·2 clips

Burgundy purple sprouting broccoli can be picked in one go instead of multiple harvests.

1. Pots & Trowels The Gardening Podcast focuses on David Coop and Elsom Seeds in Spalding, Lincolnshire, with vegetable breeding and listener gardening questions. 2. Martin, Sean, and Jill host David Coop, the Managing Director of Elsom Seeds, whose plant-breeding work shapes the episode. 3. The episode asks what Elsom Seeds does to create new vegetable varieties that taste better, store better, and waste less. 4. David says Elsom Seeds is 181 years old and the UK’s number one veg seed supplier for professional growers. 5. He explains that seed also reaches gardeners through brands such as Thompson & Morgan, Unwins, Suttons, Marshalls, and Kings. 6. He says the Spalding site is the centre of the breeding operation, where the company tries to define what makes a variety better. 7. David describes the white mesh cubes as insect-proof spaces where parent plants are hybridised without random gene mixing. 8. He says breeding starts from a gene bank of seeds, including varieties of parsnips, swede, and other crops. 9. He says the process can take about 15 years and millions of pounds, with laboratories, micropropagation, and DNA work speeding it up. 10. He says the breeding pipeline can begin with 20,000 or 30,000 candidates and narrow to a few plants for field trials. 11. David says disease resistance is tested by deliberately infecting plants with fungi or stored disease samples in the laboratory. 12. He says the field trials use real farmland near Spalding, where frost, deer nibbling, wind, and soil conditions all matter. 13. He points to Burgundy purple sprouting broccoli as a compact variety that can be picked in one go. 14. He contrasts Burgundy with older purple sprouting broccoli that needs repeated picking and can turn woody. 15. David argues that modern F1 hybrids justify their price because they can give better yield, flavour, and resistance than cheap packets of old seed. 16. He says modern Brussels sprouts have reduced bitterness and increased sweetness compared with older varieties. 17. The tone is practical and explanatory, with Martin pressing for clear examples and David answering in technical but plain language. 18. The format mixes site visit, crop discussion, and listener questions about a fuchsia and greenhouse insulation. 19. Gardeners interested in plant breeding and vegetable varieties. 20. Listeners wanting lightweight chat with no technical detail.

As heard by us

Plant breeding, a shy fuchsia, and a winter wisteria tidy-up.

The hour settles into the useful, slightly nerdy satisfaction of learning how vegetables are bred and how garden questions turn into practical jobs.

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Why you'd press play

When you want gardening advice that explains the why before the snips and cuts.

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