Just so you don't think the veggies are hiding weeds that's sticky catchfly waiting the be transplanted in spring. I started with a 69 centime plant from Aldi but it is so easy to grow from seed I've got it all over the garden - great plant just too bad you can't eat it. With the roots finish that only leaves savoy cabbage, leeks, calabrese and kale. The garlic will be in till summer and the spring cabbage looks months off eating the plants are still so small.
This savoy 'best of all' cabbage has done pretty well you can see the outer leaves have been heavily munched but the heads started to form after the caterpillars had done their deed so no great hardship. I've grown about 12 of these which is enough for the two of us. I probably should have spaced them further apart - I've got six in a metre square which according to everything I've read is way too close together but I'm not sure I want football sized cabbages.
Hmm calabrese jury still out on this veggie. Six weeks ago I would have said 'no way' not worth growing but it's going up in my estimation. Once I harvested the tops it sprouted new so I've had two cuttings so far and another ready to harvest. Must get out today and weed that right hand bed it's looking a right mess. The left one is ready for potatoes in March the four inches of manure seems to be keeping the weeds in check well for the moment anyway.
It's all looking good. Your tasty swedes might be small but at least you got some - ours all succumbed to the heat/drought despite copious watering. I know what you mean about calabrese too, it's a bit hiss and miss, but great when it grows. We need to seriously re-think the whole brassica thing this year and adjust planting times to the climate in the hope more things do well. Just another thing to be thinking about! :-)
ReplyDeleteMust admit I've given up on stated planting/sowing times. This year I'm going to hold out as long as possible before starting my tomatoes ...last year I sowed in March too early I think my seedlings got too leggy so I'm going to wait until April - I'll do the chillies and peppers in March as they didn't go leggy. I'm hoping that spring cabbage comes to something - it needs to put a spurt on before the caterpillars arrive. Funny how the hens will not eat cabbage white caterpillars - all the other are fair game!
ReplyDeleteI'm having to hold myself back with planting, too - went a bit mad last year and ended up with lots of little plants that were just too cold in the tunnel (we had a bitterly cold March/early April). Also, no-one else put anything into the ground before May, our neighbours thought I was a 'crazy Anglaise' for planting things in March, so I need to be a bit more laid back. I think cabbage white caterpillars have a particularly bitter taste - our hens wouldn't touch them either - but fingers crossed the spring cabbage will be pest-free!
ReplyDeleteHad to come in to warm up for ten minutes only half way along the edge. I'm starting to think about ways to make the most of the good autumns - most years we don't get a frost till November at the earliest. Sowing to get seedlings coming up at the end of August - past the worst heat - then having three months growing time - I'm almost tempted to have a go at potatoes. I've found spring less reliable/predicable than the autumn - we've in the Creuse almost bang in the centre of the hexagon. Break over...back to edging.
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