Brassicas are quite big and take up a lot of space, so we can't plant many in the veggie patch. Even with all year round growing and harvesting, there isn't anywhere near enough space in the veggie patch to keep us fed with brassicas.
The simple solution is to use all the tomato pots and buckets in the summer, and for winter brassicas in the winter. We'll use the compost from the potato sacks and tomato buckets for the winter brassicas.
So last week I sowed another 4 trays of brassicas:
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
12 Cabbage Kilaton
12 Kale (Black Tuscany)
12 Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Rudolph)
12 Late Purple Sprouting Broccoli
8 Cabbage (Durham Early)
8 Cabbage (?)
8 Cabbage (?)
The Black Tuscany Kale is winter hardy so can live outside without a problem. It produces large black leaves that can be used like cabbage. The leaves are "cut and come again", so we can pick what we need when we need it. We can also pick, chop, blanche and freeze leaves if we get enough.
There are 4 varieties of cabbage, all of which can live outside, and should mature at different times. With some luck, we should have cabbage throughout the winter. But my luck says that they'll all come at the same time ....
The AYR cauliflower is probably best either in the greenhouse or a coldframe / cloche. I have a greenhouse heater and I'm planning to run that throughout the winter. However, there is only so much we can keep in the greenhouse, so we won't get many cauliflowers in there. I'll have to look for some clear plastic sheeting to build a cloche.
There are two varieties of PSB which should give us PSB from December through to May.
Showing posts with label cabbage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cabbage. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Potting On & Sowings
The rain has barely stopped this month, but we took advantage of a couple of hours sunshine on Sunday to get down the veggie patch and sort out the greenhouse. The greenhouse is now tidy and organised again.
Mice & Sweetcorn / Peas / Beans
The mice have scoffed more sweetcorn and some of the beans - we have sown 15 more beans into cells. Peas have been very disappointing. We originally sowed 96, but the mice scoffed them. We sowed more, still only a total of 12 have come up so far. We now have new peas (Early Onward and another) and have sown another 24 of each. All of these are now covered to keep the mice out.
I remember reading about an old trick to stop the mice eating seeds - soak the seeds in parafin before sowing. This is the first time I've had problems with mice eating seeds so never tried it before. I don't have any parafin so can't try it yet, but if I ever get round to getting a greenhouse heater, I'll have the parafin so will try the soaking trick.
Tomatoes
The missus managed to sow about 126 tomato plants (lots of varieties). She got a bit carried away! We potted on and now have 60 tomato plants in 3.5in pots. I pulled the rest of them up and put them in the compost. The missus was very sad :( She would love to have kept them, but there are a couple of issues like finding space for them all and I don't think she realises just how much watering and pinching out she'll be doing this summer!
Chillies & Peppers
Not looking great at the moment. We have a small handful of seedlings from several trays of sowings. It might just take more time for more to come through.
Lettuce, Spinach & Salads
The new Iceberg lettuce is doing well in the greenhouse. We have a handful of other salad seedlings like pak choi and spinach - we simply haven't sown enough, so we now have another tray sown. We will need to do some more pretty soon. The pak choi seems to take a lot longer to grow than spinach and lettuce, so best sowing them separately.
The lettuce and spinach we planted out into the patio tubs isn't looking very healthy. It's probably been too cold and wet. But never mind, we've sown a lot more so can replant the tubs later if we need to.
Radish
French Breakfast radish was sown in seed trays of compost and both trays are doing well, but drying out very quickly now. They are starting to swell. Aim is to do one tray every 3 or 4 weeks so we have a constant supply of radish. The long rooted Hilds Roter radish is looking very healthy in the trough in the greenhouse. We have more to sow next month.
Carrots, Parsnip & Beetroot
We have a few Boltardy beetroot seedlings showing in the outdoor trough. The parsnip trough was looking good with 2 rows of healthy looking seedlings. However, it was waterlogged with the recent rain, so is now back in the greenhouse. All troughs of carrots are looking good.
I pulled up a single carrot from the first October sowing - it's looking good, but we'll probably leave them longer.
Onions & Garlic
The garlic and elephant garlic are looking good - the elephant garlic is looking very strong and healthy. I poked around in one of the garlic troughs yesterday, not much in the way of swelling of the bulbs yet. I'll be very surprised if it's ready in 2 months time, but no problem if it takes longer.
The winter onions are not doing too well. Even more have "disappeared" and some of those remaining are looking a bit squishy, like they're starting to rot in the wet. The summer onions are looking fine and healthy. I still have 160 in 2" pots. 120 of these are in a cold frame - there simply isn't room in the greenhouse and I want to protect them from the heavy rain which could simply wash the compost out of the pots.
Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli & Kale
Lots of
seedlings have come up, most are looking good, but some are a bit
stringy. Some of the red cabbage got eaten by slugs or snails, but the
tray is now covered and the remainder seem to be doing well. Brassicas
tend to take up a lot of space, so most will end up in pots after the
tomatoes and potatoes have finished.
Potatoes
Everything seems ok so far. I took a quick look at the bags under the weed sheeting - the sheeting seems to be helping - the compost is moist, not soaked, and despite the cold weather, the compost is quite warm. The leaves are coming up nicely - not enough to earth up just yet.
Leeks
Several pots of leeks are doing well, some in the greenhouse, some outside. It looks like we'll have a lot of leeks over the winter!
We found more seeds at the weekend for a larger variety of leeks, so have sown some of them too.
Mice & Sweetcorn / Peas / Beans
The mice have scoffed more sweetcorn and some of the beans - we have sown 15 more beans into cells. Peas have been very disappointing. We originally sowed 96, but the mice scoffed them. We sowed more, still only a total of 12 have come up so far. We now have new peas (Early Onward and another) and have sown another 24 of each. All of these are now covered to keep the mice out.
I remember reading about an old trick to stop the mice eating seeds - soak the seeds in parafin before sowing. This is the first time I've had problems with mice eating seeds so never tried it before. I don't have any parafin so can't try it yet, but if I ever get round to getting a greenhouse heater, I'll have the parafin so will try the soaking trick.
Tomatoes
 |
| The greenhouse is looking very full |
Chillies & Peppers
Not looking great at the moment. We have a small handful of seedlings from several trays of sowings. It might just take more time for more to come through.
Lettuce, Spinach & Salads
The new Iceberg lettuce is doing well in the greenhouse. We have a handful of other salad seedlings like pak choi and spinach - we simply haven't sown enough, so we now have another tray sown. We will need to do some more pretty soon. The pak choi seems to take a lot longer to grow than spinach and lettuce, so best sowing them separately.
The lettuce and spinach we planted out into the patio tubs isn't looking very healthy. It's probably been too cold and wet. But never mind, we've sown a lot more so can replant the tubs later if we need to.
Radish
French Breakfast radish was sown in seed trays of compost and both trays are doing well, but drying out very quickly now. They are starting to swell. Aim is to do one tray every 3 or 4 weeks so we have a constant supply of radish. The long rooted Hilds Roter radish is looking very healthy in the trough in the greenhouse. We have more to sow next month.
Carrots, Parsnip & Beetroot
 |
| Our first carrot this year! |
I pulled up a single carrot from the first October sowing - it's looking good, but we'll probably leave them longer.
Onions & Garlic
The garlic and elephant garlic are looking good - the elephant garlic is looking very strong and healthy. I poked around in one of the garlic troughs yesterday, not much in the way of swelling of the bulbs yet. I'll be very surprised if it's ready in 2 months time, but no problem if it takes longer.
The winter onions are not doing too well. Even more have "disappeared" and some of those remaining are looking a bit squishy, like they're starting to rot in the wet. The summer onions are looking fine and healthy. I still have 160 in 2" pots. 120 of these are in a cold frame - there simply isn't room in the greenhouse and I want to protect them from the heavy rain which could simply wash the compost out of the pots.
Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli & Kale
 |
| Trays of everything in the greenhouse |
Potatoes
Everything seems ok so far. I took a quick look at the bags under the weed sheeting - the sheeting seems to be helping - the compost is moist, not soaked, and despite the cold weather, the compost is quite warm. The leaves are coming up nicely - not enough to earth up just yet.
 |
| 6in pot of leeks outside |
Several pots of leeks are doing well, some in the greenhouse, some outside. It looks like we'll have a lot of leeks over the winter!
We found more seeds at the weekend for a larger variety of leeks, so have sown some of them too.
Saturday, 18 February 2012
January Sowings
With the start of the new year and feeling really positive, we decided to sow a few trays of seeds early in January. Not much success though. All seeds were sown in cells and kept in the greenhouse, unheated.
15 Broccoli (Summer Purple) - all have sprouted, looking good
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round) - a few sprouted, but died
24 Tomatoes (Moneymaker and other varieties) - a few sprouted, but all died
24 Cabbage (can't remember but was a winter variety) - no sproutings
Not to worry - it's almost spring!
15 Broccoli (Summer Purple) - all have sprouted, looking good
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round) - a few sprouted, but died
24 Tomatoes (Moneymaker and other varieties) - a few sprouted, but all died
24 Cabbage (can't remember but was a winter variety) - no sproutings
Not to worry - it's almost spring!
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Overwintering Update
2 weeks ago we started sowings for overwintering. The results so far are:
Garlic - shoots are now 2 inches tall
Carrots (Early Nantes) - seedlings are now 1 inch tall
The seeds we sowed in the cells have sprouted, but we used home made compost which turned out to have some sort of weed seeds in it. Luckily these weeds are easily identified with the Cauliflower and cabbage, but we're not sure if the Strawberries have sprouted yet.
Lettuce (Winter Gem) - some have sprouted, maybe to half an inch or so
Cauliflower (All Year Round) - seedlings are coming on well, most are between 1 and 2 inches tall
Cabbage (Durham Early) - about 8 out of the 12 have sprouted to about 1 inch tall
Cabbage (Winter Jewel) - all 12 have sprouted well, looking healthy
Strawberry (Sarian) - some green growth, not sure if weeds or strawberries - will have to wait longer ....
Garlic - shoots are now 2 inches tall
Carrots (Early Nantes) - seedlings are now 1 inch tall
The seeds we sowed in the cells have sprouted, but we used home made compost which turned out to have some sort of weed seeds in it. Luckily these weeds are easily identified with the Cauliflower and cabbage, but we're not sure if the Strawberries have sprouted yet.
Lettuce (Winter Gem) - some have sprouted, maybe to half an inch or so
Cauliflower (All Year Round) - seedlings are coming on well, most are between 1 and 2 inches tall
Cabbage (Durham Early) - about 8 out of the 12 have sprouted to about 1 inch tall
Cabbage (Winter Jewel) - all 12 have sprouted well, looking healthy
Strawberry (Sarian) - some green growth, not sure if weeds or strawberries - will have to wait longer ....
Monday, 3 October 2011
Back in Business
Sat 24th September we raided Wyevale for the 50p seed clearout. Got loads!
Sowed various seeds that should grow over the winter in the greenhouse:
2 tubs Early Nantes carrots
24 lettuce Winter Gem
24 strawberry Sarian
24 cauliflower All Year Round
12 cabbage Durham Early
12 cabbage Winter Jewel
1 tub of garlic
The lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower and strawberries were all sprouting within a few days. These will be transplanted into pots in the greenhouse when they're big enough.
The carrot tubs will probably stay in the greenhouse all winter. Hopefully they'll be ready in spring.
The first garlic clove was showing a small green shoot within a week. The garlic tub will stay outside through the winter so that the frost gets to it and makes the bulbs split.
I've dug up half the potato bed - got one bucket of new potatoes. The other half will be dug up when the bucket is empty!
We've picked loads of apples. Some have been peeled and sliced and frozen - these will make good crumbles throughout the winter. I still have loads of blackberries frozen too, so we'll have variety with crumbles etc. We've also had apple sauce with our roast this weekend.
Sowed various seeds that should grow over the winter in the greenhouse:
2 tubs Early Nantes carrots
24 lettuce Winter Gem
24 strawberry Sarian
24 cauliflower All Year Round
12 cabbage Durham Early
12 cabbage Winter Jewel
1 tub of garlic
The lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower and strawberries were all sprouting within a few days. These will be transplanted into pots in the greenhouse when they're big enough.
The carrot tubs will probably stay in the greenhouse all winter. Hopefully they'll be ready in spring.
The first garlic clove was showing a small green shoot within a week. The garlic tub will stay outside through the winter so that the frost gets to it and makes the bulbs split.
I've dug up half the potato bed - got one bucket of new potatoes. The other half will be dug up when the bucket is empty!
We've picked loads of apples. Some have been peeled and sliced and frozen - these will make good crumbles throughout the winter. I still have loads of blackberries frozen too, so we'll have variety with crumbles etc. We've also had apple sauce with our roast this weekend.
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