Spring Cabbages have Bolted!

Cabbages Plot 15.04.09

Just when you think everything is going swimmingly and you’ve been waiting all winter for some tasty spring cabbage leaves, this happens!

Bolting
Bolting is where the plant puts on a sudden spurt of growth too quickly and uses up all its energy, then flowers and seeds. It will stop growing as it has completed its life cycle.

Why does bolting occur?
Flowering plants like cabbage, lettuce or spinach have a photoreceptor protein which is sensitive to seasonal changes or hours of darkness. These long day plants require fewer number of hours darkness within a day to set flower. A cold spell of weather can also assist with bolting.

Bolted Cabbage 18.04.09

Solution
According to the RHS, they recommend to sow your spring cabbages at the end of July to prevent your cabbages from bolting early (they will bolt later instead) or sow a bolt resistant variety like Hispi F1, Advantage F1 or Pixie.

I have picked off the leaves of the cabbage plants for the kitchen and thrown the rest of the plant in the compost bin.

One of my plots will be empty for a while until the next lot of cabbages (Minicole F1) grow, so I will be sowing a ‘catch crop’ (a fast growing crop grown in between other slower growing crops) of radishes, small chanteny carrots and leaf beat, so the area doesn’t go to waste.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Spring Cabbages have Bolted!

Veggy Plot pictures and pages updated 17.01.09

Finally a break in the weather on a bitterly cold but fine sunny day means I have managed to take some new photos (with my new camera, a xmas present) of my vegetable plots for 2009 to see how they have survived through the winter.

So here goes (click on the pictures to enlarge them):-

Plot 1 Broad Beans and Peas

Plot 2 – Carrots and Onions

Plot 3 – Cabbages

Everything seems to be growing strongly thanks to my homemade fleece cloches – click here if you would like to know how to make your own small fleece cloche.

All my vegetables have survived the winter frosts unlike my poor frost bitten mallow (lavatera) shrub in the plant border.

New Blog Pages for 2009

I have had a bit of a spring clean with my blog and added some new information to the pages. I have setup 3 individual pages for each plot this year to record my sowing and harvest dates with slideshows:

• Plot 1 – Beans and Peas,
• Plot 2 – Roots and Onions,
• Plot 3 – Brassicas.

My About Me page now has details about my vegetable plot and a picture of all three plots.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Veggy Plot Pictures and Pages Updated 17.01.09

Sowing Now – Broad beans, peas, carrots, onion sets, spring cabbage plants and chinese cabbage

Today I have been mostly sowing and planting:

Plot 1
Last year this plot had roots and salads in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that legumes are going to be grown here instead.

1. Broad Bean ‘Super Aquadulce’ (2 rows and 3 rows spare to sow in Nov) Sow Oct – Feb, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
2. Pea ‘Meteor’ (2 rows) Sow Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
3. Parsnip ‘Countess F1′ (1 row) ready for harvest now to Nov from a sowing in February.

Tip for covering peas and beans:
I cover my peas and broad beans over-winter to protect them from the frost with enviromesh and horticultural fleece if snow is forecasted. I remove all covers in spring when flowers are forming so they can be pollinated by flying insects.

Plot 2
Last year this plot had brassicas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that roots and onions are going to be grown here instead.

1. Carrot ‘Nantes Frubund’ (1 row and 3 spare to sow in succession) – Sow Feb to October, Harvest April to November. Bought from Gardens4less.
2. Onion Set ‘Red Cross’ (3 rows) – Plant Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Marshalls Seed.
3. Spring Onion ‘Hardy White Lisbon’ (2 rows) – Sow June to Oct, Harvest July – Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Onion Set Planting Tip:
I planted my Onion sets out in a mound with just the tips showing, spaced about a hand width apart in the row. This was recommended by an allotmenteer at Joe’s Allotment on Gardener’s World. He said this was better for drainage and sun exposure. Pea sticks or canes have been placed over the bed to protect from birds and cats.

Click here to see Friday 10th Oct Episode of Gardeners World on BBC iPlayer.

Plot 3
Last year this plot had beans and peas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that brassicas are going to be grown here instead.

1. Cabbage ‘Greyhound’ plants – Plant Oct, Harvest April to May. Bought from Ebay.
2. Chinese Cabbage ‘Tatsoi’ ( 2 small rows) – Sow July to October, Harvest Sept to Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Tip on planting out cabbages:
Dig a small hole with a trowel, water the hole well, firm in plants with fingers and then firm in with heel of your foot. Cabbages require firm ground to grow in to support their stems and leaves.

And finally I harvested the last of the french beans and some parsnips for tea.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing Now – Broad Beans, Peas, Carrots, Onion Sets and Spring Cabbages

Bumper September Harvest

Unfortunately since my last post, my cabbages finally succumbed to the caterpillars so my brassica bed is now bare and I left all my plots to their own devises whilst going away on my hols to Canada.

So whilst I have been away my veggy plot has fended for itself very well with my runner, climbing and borlotto beans sown on 18th July 2008 now ready for harvesting in their droves which is fantastic.

My carrots (amsterdam forcing, james scarlet and autumn king) sown on 1st June 2008 are also now ready for harvesting.

Parsnips
I couldn’t help myself and had to pull up a parsnip to see how big they were, not a bad size either, can’t wait until October when I can dig up the rest.

Potatoes
I still have 2 big pots of Picasso Potatoes left to dig up as and when I need them.

Seeds and Sets to be purchased now to be sown/planted between October and December are:

1. Broad Bean seeds – Over-wintering varieties include: Super Aquadulce (organic) (from The Organic Garden catalogue), The Sutton (dwarf plant) and Aquadulce Claudia.
2. Pea seeds – Over-wintering varieties include: Meteor (from The Organic Garden catalogue), Douce Provence (organic), Feltham First and Pilot.
3. Onion ‘Red Cross’ and ‘Radar’ sets (from Marshalls Seeds)
4. Note to self – Look into buying crop fleece for the frosty season soon.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Bumper September Harvest

Pest Watch – Hordes of Caterpillars

Its official Caterpillars have taken over my cabbage plot.

The Cabbage White butterfly lays the yellow larvae on the underside of cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and any other large strong leaves in June. 14 days later in July, caterpillars emerge ready for breakfast and see some lovely green crunchy leaves on your cabbages.

This is what happens next….

Lots of holes in my cabbage leaves!

I’m sure I’m not the only one having these issues with cabbage white butterflies and caterpillars so this is what I have done to minimize the destruction.

1. Pulled out all the mature cabbages with hordes of caterpillars on them that cannot be saved,
2. Shake the rest of the cabbages and leaves (one by one) that are staying put and check underneath the leaves for fallen caterpillars,
3. Use gloves and squish the caterpillars or if you’re a bit squeamish just pick them up on a trowel and dispose of them,
4. Use the jet on the hose to water straight down in the centre of the cabbage to throw off any more caterpillars missed before,
5. Check the underside of the leaves for yellow eggs (larvae) and remove the leaves or the eggs and dispose of,
6. Finally put netting over the top of all your cabbages making sure that the cabbage leaves are not touching the netting (use canes to support netting) to prevent anymore butterflies from landing on your cabbages.
7. You’re not out of the wars yet, keep checking on the leaves of the plants for caterpillars otherwise they will continue to eat your remaining cabbages under the netting.

So if you think you have a caterpillar pest problem – check your plots for the following:-

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Pest Watch – Hordes of Caterpillars

Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08

Today I Will Mostly Be Sowing:

• Dwarf Beans – ‘borlotto’,
• Broad Beans – ‘the sutton’,
• Peas – ‘ambassador’,
• Pak Choi – ‘riko white’.

Today I Will Mostly Be Harvesting:

• New Potato’s – ‘lady christl’ and ‘charlotte’,
• Cabbage – ’spring hero’ and ‘advantage’,
• Dwarf Beans – ‘borlotto’,
• Dwarf Beans – ‘ferrari’,
• Lettuce – ‘balmoral’ leaves,

Vegetables in Progress

• Tomato’s – ‘Green Zebra’,



• Cucumber’s – ‘Marketmore’,



• Broccoli ‘tenderstem’,

Plot Progress – Week 23

Plot 1
Carrots, red spring onion and beetroot are growing stronger from sowings made on 1st June 2008. Runner beans are slowly wrapping themselves around the canes. Parsnip foliage is going wild. Sowed Pak Choi into the gaps.

Plot 2
Tenderstem Broccoli nearly ready to pick, cabbage resolution savoy and golden acre are growing well after transplanting, still a few sacrificial cabbages of ‘advantage’ variety to attract the cabbage white butterflies to lay their eggs on (and not on my newly transplanted ones – seems to be working so far).

Plot 3
Broad Beans and Mange tout removed after harvesting. New sowings of peas, broad beans and dwarf beans under cloche (mainly due to cats digging bare soil). 2 x butternut squash plants doing well after transplant. Brussels sprout plants wedged in between dwarf beans but are growing steady.

Tomato and Cucumbers (outdoors)
Tomato’s have been tied to the canes and pots placed into upside down propagator lids. This has helped as this fence is a sun trap and dries the plants out daily, I pour water into the lids so the plant takes the water from its roots when necessary and doesn’t dry out. All tomato plants are flowering and some are fruiting. Cucumbers are rambling over the decking and are producing flowers and fruit.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08