Wednesday 12 November 2014

Current State of the Brassicas

 

I am anxiously watching the weather forecast these days.  Yesterday was fabulous ... a high of 17 degrees C!  But we have already had several nights below zero in the past few weeks and similar lows expected in just a few days.

But I wait patiently for the brussels sprouts and cabbage to get a bit bigger before I harvest them.  I intentionally started them later than the previous year to avoid having them bolt in the summer heat - naturally it turned out to be a cool summer.  :)

The sprouts should be okay (I only have 4 plants) ... another week in the garden then they'll still get a bit bigger if I hang them for another week or so.  I don't imagine the savoy cabbage will get much bigger but the 4 plants I have should provide enough for a meal or two.
 

After Margaret showed her broccoli side shoots a couple of days ago, I thought I should take a look myself as I had not expected to have the time for any to grow this season.   Wouldn't you know it, there are side shoots on most of the plants!



And it looks like I should still get a broccoli (or four), small as they may be - this one is only an inch or so across.









As for the cauliflower, not so much.  Second year in a row with no real heads to harvest (except for this teeny little purple one pulled a week ago).

Last year, the entire plants were duds.  This year, I have large plants (pic below) with plenty of leaf but no head (or maybe a little head wrapped in those inner little leaves).  I'll see if I can work out that problem before next year.  I know I had peas growing in that bed just before I put in the brussels sprouts and cauliflower and the brussels sprouts seem fine. I assume I have too much or too little of something ...







5 comments:

  1. Those Brussels sprouts look beautiful! I tried growing them many years ago but they were a dismal failure. I'll probably try again at some point, though.

    We had a wonderful day yesterday too - the last one for a while, according to the weather network. I took advantage of the nice day by doing as much end of season outdoor cleanup as I could. I even put up some of our Christmas decorations. I love outdoor winter activities, but when it comes to actually working outdoors, I'm such a cold wimp.

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    1. I'm even wimpier than you ... not much into winter activities at all. :)

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  2. Or weather has been fabulous too. But tomorrow it turns cold. I've been trying to get as much done as possible before everything freezes up, but because of some timing issues I'll be picking some things over the next couple of days in the cold.

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    1. Yep, good luck with the timing It's always a challenge ...

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  3. Ooh your sprouts look good, I've only got two plants that survived and they have teeny sprouts. They may grow a bit more though....or they may not!

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