Tag Archive: cabbage

Overwintering Cabbages 2018

Overwintering cabbages

Overwintering cabbages is a method whereby spring cabbages are late summer sown. by doing this they  produce small tender cabbages or spring greens in April and May. Confusingly, late spring sowing of Durham Elf can ensure earlier crops in autumn and winter so I may try those next Spring..

Overwintering cabbages

Overwintering cabbages

To over winter cabbages sow mid July to August ¼” deep in a seed bed or in trays of seed compost. Keep moist. Transplant to their final position when plants can be easily handled which should be in about 5-6 weeks.

Allow 18” between plants. Plant firmly and water well until established. Harvest in April and May for good firm hearts.

The four varieties that I am sowing today are Durham Early, Durham Elf, First Early Market and  Offenham 2 Flower of Spring.

Update – The seeds I sowed on 13th August have not all germinated. Today 4th September I have potted on 12 First Early Market.  Nothing else was big enough to transplant but I shall leave them a little longer.

I am hoping to get these in at the allotment in the middle of October and hope to harvest in April and May 2019. They will be protected by a tunnel as we have lots of hungry pigeons down there..

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Over Wintering Spring Cabbage July 2017

It’s time to sow seeds of overwintering cabbages. They are my favourite cabbages and should be ready from early Spring onwards. Sow: mid July to August ¼” deep in a seed bed or in trays of seed compost. Keep moist. Transplant to their final positions when plants can be easily handled in about 5-6 weeks. Allow 18” between plants. Plant firmly and water well until established. Harvest: April-May for good firm hearts. The four varieties that I am sowing today, 22nd July,  are, Spring Hero, Durham Early, Offenham 2 Flower of Spring and Cabbage First Early Market. The  last one is new to me this year but the others are tried and tested favourites. Today, 29th July, all the seedlings are through except for the Durham Early, which haven’t shown at all. Seven days is quite good though so I will give the no showers another week.

These seedlings have come on well but are still sitting in their 7″ pots in my plastic greenhouse as I haven’t put them into their final place on the allotment. I hope that they will survive the winter. I may pot them up into larger pots. I gave a tray to a friend who has an allotment and who hadn’t sown any seeds in time himself.

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Overwintering Cabbage

 

We have sown seeds of two overwintering cabbages. Spring Hero F1 Hybrid and Durham Early. Both sets of seeds have germinated successfully and have been pricked out into bigger pots

A ballhead cabbage, Spring Hero has good frost hardiness and forms solid heads from late April through to May.

Durham Early produces firm, pointed, well flavoured hearts.

 

 

 

Cauliflower Skywalker F1

Today, 28th May, I have received the cauliflower plants that I ordered from T&M and they look brilliant. Healthy and ready to be planted out as soon as the beds are ready. They are an F1 variety called Skywalker and should be ready to harvest in October. Update – we planted these yesterday, 2nd June, under a covered tunnel along with nine cabbages given to us by a friend. Update 12th September – we have harvested several of these already and they have been outstanding in size and quality. Maturing in October this outstanding hybrid gives fine, deep white curds of excellent eating quality.

 

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A Few Hours At The Allotment

We spent a lovely few hours at the plot this morning and caught up on loads of jobs. We put in the last of the potatoes which were the second batch of Charlotte and British Queen. We planted up the three courgette plants All Green Bush and put a polythene cover over until the plants are a bit hardier. I had left a tray of runner bean plants White Lady in the fruit tunnel to harden off and I noticed that most of them had been eaten by something so I am putting another batch in today to try and catch up. Into the brassica tunnel we put twenty five cabbage Greyhound plants, thirteen cauliflower All The Year Round and ten onion Marathon. Onion – The regular consumption of onions has been shown to lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure  helping to prevent atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease, and therefore reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke.


 

 

 

 

A greyhound cabbage from last year

Second Batch of Brassicas

I have sown another tray of brassicas today with a mix of new and old seeds. Another row of Cauliflower All The Year Round; Broccoli Autumn Calabrese; Cabbage Derby Day; Cabbage Brigadier; Cabbage Greyhound and Cabbage Offenham ll. They should show in 7-10 days.

Cabbage Brigadier F1 Hybrid (Autumn/Winter). Ideal to grow a quality giant cabbage, producing heads up to 14lbs. Delicious eaten raw, with a high sugar and Vitamin C content, but also excellent when cooked, Stands well in good condition, with Fusarium.

 

Cabbage Greyhound Reliable and early maturing, Greyhound produces compact plants with very few wasted outer leaves. The tasty, pointed hearts can be cropped from mid summer well into autumn. Alan Romans.

Sowing Brassicas

The first brassica seeds have gone in today. In a tray of John Innes Seed compost I have sown two rows of Brussels Sprout Noisette and two rows of Evesham Special. Seedlings should appear in two to three weeks and they can be grown on until late April to May for planting out in the tunnel and hopefully for Harvest from September to December. update on germination – Evesham Special (new seeds) 100%; Noisette (old seeds) 1%.

In the same tray I have sown one row each of Cauliflower All The Year Round, Cabbage Primo ll and Cabbage Glory of Enkhuizen. All for Summer Harvest. update on germination – Cabbage Primo ll  (new seeds) 100%; ATYR & GOE (old seeds) nothing.

primo_thumbcauluayr_1166

Cabbage Frostie

cabbage frostieWay back in the season I sowed a few seeds given to me by Debs, our Sean’s girl, and wasn’t quite sure what would grow as I could only find a Kale called Frosty. However, what has grown is a lovely pointed cabbage. I think I shall be buying seeds of my own next year and maybe I’ll share them with Deb and Sean. Frosty produces small, solid heads of fine flavour and texture. Early to mature, it can be planted very close for early harvest of spring greens.

Lettuce Delicato

lettuce delicato

Yesterday was a lovely warm day but as Rob had to work a double shift he wasn’t home until 7.45pm. We went straight down to the plots when he got back and spent a nice hour watering the plants that are under cover and the seedlings then planting more pumpkins, five Cauliflower Moby Dick, five Cabbage Kilaton F1 and twenty five Lettuce Delicato. We brought home a bag of salad leaf and a few globe raddish to go with our very late evening meal.

cauli moby dickcabbage kilaton F1