I waited through an unusually dry autumn for the rains to come. I find it is easier to keep seedlings alive in pots during droughts than in the ground (we are on limited tank water, so irrigation is mostly a waste). I finally planted the hybrid seedlings from hand crosses out, fairly close together in a mounded bed built on goat manure and charcoal.
From this point I only need to get them big enough to evaluate vigor and leaf flavour since I am aiming for a perennial evergreen alternative to garlic chives (which only produce well for a couple of months here when summer isnt droughty). The starting species are almost as edible as garlic chives (slightly acrid taste but still pleasant in small quantities). I still plan to grow my annual/semi perennial Allium fistulosum population, but a tastier selection of Tulbaghia would be wonderful to help fill in gaps in production when we get 9 months without rain. I’ve pretty much given up on ever developing a bulbing allium for my conditions. With a 365 day growing season I don’t really see the point if I can have fresh allium greens anytime I want.
If I can get spontaneous pollination among the hybrids I will be happy to share seed with other growers in warmer climates. The genus is pretty big so there might be more opportunities for wider hybridisation. The best crops seem to often come from three way hybrids.
Nice project. Society garlic is grown in lots of gardens around here but I’ve noticed that it’s reluctant to set seed. I guess it’s mostly propagated vegetatively in the horticulture trade so, like many plants so propagated, it’s forgetting how to set seed.
More likely it is a single clone and no dedicated pollinators. I notice the odd pod on local landscape plantings, but I get lots of pods reliably when I hand pollinate. I’m hoping to pick up some more species to add into the mix (especially the one the Zulus have a history of eating) to make something really delicious. If you want some hand crossed seed to grow out let me know- I already have a bed full of seedlings sowed earlier in the year.
I have Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) seeds to germinate next Spring. If I have any that go to seed I can send some, if you want to send any hybrids I can add them in to the mix.
Ill have to double check if Tulbaghia seed are allowed for import/export from Australia, but they will probably be fine. It would be nice to have another collaborator on the project. Wide diversity within the same species can be almost as useful as different species for hybridisation. Humid east texas has a very similar climate to where I am. There might be more rare bulb collectors in the USA to tap into to look for other species to try including in the project. Tulbaghia alliacea is the species I am most interested in tracking down since the Zulu have a long history of eating it. Though a quick check turned up a reference that only alliacea is tetraploid, so could lead to sterile triploids if used for breeding with the other diploid species. Still- bumping it up to hexaploid could be interesting.