Atomic gardens are a form of mutation breeding where plants are exposed to radioactive sources, typically Cobalt-60,[1] in order to generate useful mutations. One example is the resistance to verticillium wilt of the "Todd's Mitcham" cultivar of peppermint which was produced from a breeding and test program at Brookhaven National Laboratory from the mid 1950s.[2][3]
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Beginning in the 1950s, atomic gardens were a part of Atoms for Peace, a program to develop "peaceful"[2] uses of fission energy after WWII. Gamma gardens were established in laboratories in the US, Europe, parts of the former USSR, India[4] and Japan. The Atomic Gardening Society was set up in 1959 by Muriel Howorth in the UK. Irradiated seeds were sold to the public by C.J. Speas, who had obtained a licence for a Cobolt-60 source; and sold seeds produced in a backyard cinderblock bunker. A number of commercial plant varieties were developed and released.[5]
The gamma gardens were arranged in a circular pattern with a retractable radiation source in the middle. Plants were usually laid out like slices of a pie, radiating from the central radiation source; this pattern produced a range of radiation doses over the radius from the centre. The plants nearest the centre usually died, the ones further out often featured "tumors and other growth abnormalities"; beyond these were the plants of interest, with a higher than usual range of mutations, but not to the damaging extent of those closer to the radiation source.[2]
Atomic gardens are part of the background of the plot of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds which features the growth of irradiated seeds as a science fair project.[2]