Caption: Red cabbage
Caption: Romanesco
Caption: Broccoli
Caption: Swede
Award-winning garden writer Ade Sellars shares his top tips for sowing, growing and caring for brassicas, helping you enjoy delicious homegrown harvests well into autumn and winter:
It’s the height of summer, a time when allotments and veg gardens are brimming with produce all for the taking. Kitchens across the land go into overtime as gardeners swap trowels for whisks, conjuring magical meals with their harvested goods. For gluts, the likes of courgettes, beetroot and berries have their fate sealed in pickles, chutney and jam. Only to be brought out at a later date, to a newfound appreciation for these once overzealous growers. Everything grown is used and nothing is wasted.
When July is giving so much, many of us refuse to believe that summer will ever come to an end. Yet, there are already signs autumn is waiting in the wings. Gaps in veg beds begin to appear; flowers are keen to run to seed, and slowly those light summer evenings dim a little earlier as balmy days roll by. But fear not my veg-munching friends, there is a hero in this saga. Someone that can carry us through into autumn and onto winter. Filling beds, filling stomachs and filling hearts with growing joy. So, please be upstanding and make space for brassicas.
Whether its cabbage, cauliflower, festival sprouts, kale, swede, broccoli or the enchanting Romanesco, each and every variety is fit for purpose. But when Sprouting broccoli can reach the dizzy heights of three feet, and other crops can have the spread of over forty-five cms. Some gardeners may question whether they have the space to accommodate these bruisers. However, as someone who grows them all year round in raised beds, there are a couple of simple solutions. Try growing smaller varieties such as Cauliflower ‘Igloo’, conical cabbage ‘Greyhound’, or the dwarf variety Brussels sprouts ‘Long Island’. Also, restrict growth by growing brassicas a little closer together. Yes, they might rub shoulders with one another but keep on top of plant maintenance and they will produce a slightly smaller, but happy and healthy crop.
Now that your tastebuds are firmly teased, open the garden gate and be ready to greet autumn with warming recipes that have their roots in brassicas. To help you get started this month, I’ve put together a simple generic list on how to sow and grow them.
Sowing
Brassicas can be sown using a modular seed tray, or 7cm pot, filled with Dalefoot Wool Compost for Seeds. Tamp the soil down to create a firm surface, then create a 2cm hole in the centre. Place two seeds in the hole and cover over with compost. Water gently and place in a greenhouse, cold frame or on a warm windowsill to germinate. At this time of year germination should occur within 7-12 days. Once germinated, give seedlings plenty of light so they don’t become leggy.
July temperatures means the ground is warm, so direct sowing into the final growing area can achieve great results. Prepare the open growing area by incorporating plenty of Dalefoot Wool Compost for Vegetables and Salads. Firm the soil down with the back of a rake or use your heels to walk over the growing area. Create a fine, level tilth and water the area thoroughly before sowing to avoid dispersing the seed.
Next, create drills 1cm deep and 15cm apart. Rows should be 45-60cms apart if you’re sowing directly. Sow seed thinly, then cover over sown area with soil. Again, germination should take between 7-10 days. You may want to protect the area from hungry birds disrupting the soil and digging up the seeds.
Pricking out
Once two seedlings are firmly established in each seed module, remove the weaker seedling allowing the other one to grow on. To avoid disturbing the roots, either pinch-out the weaker seedling or cut it away. Keep soil moist.
For plants directly sown into the final growing area, thin seedlings to 30-45cms apart.
Growing on
When indoor seedlings are 10-15cm high, they are ready to be planted out into their final growing positions. Before planting out, let them harden off for a week beforehand. By bringing your plants outside for a few hours every day, you’ll acclimatise them to outside conditions.
Similar to direct sowing, the growing area should be prepared with Dalefoot Compost, then firmed down with the back of a rake. Ideally, the chosen plot should be in a warm, sunny, sheltered position. As brassicas can get quite tall, plant deeply (up to the first set of leaves) and firm around the roots. This will help them establish a good root system and prevent wind rock. Plants should be spaced 30-45cms apart in rows 45-60cms apart. Water in well. This also applies to plants that were grown and transplanted from a seed bed.
Plant maintenance
When planting cabbages into their final growing position, place a brassica collar around its stem just above the soil. This will help prevent cabbage root fly from laying eggs at the base of the plant, and its hatched larvae from eating and destroying the roots.
Club root is a fungal infection that damages the roots, leaving them swollen, distorted and stunted. The foliage can also discolour. If plants are infected, remove from site and destroy. Wash hands, tools and boots to help prevent the spread of infection. Avoid planting cabbages in areas where club root has occurred. Buy seed varieties that have some degree of club root resistance.
Birds, especially pigeons, will happily eat the leaves of the plants, so place fine netting over the crop at the time of planting. This will also deter the white cabbage butterfly from landing on the plants to lay its eggs during the summer months; an infestation of caterpillars can quickly devastate a crop.
Remove any yellowing or discoloured leaves as these could potentially harbour pests and diseases. Water regularly, keeping the soil moist, and weed area regularly so plants aren’t competing for nutrients.
Hints and Tips
If you are lacking space to direct sow, plug plants are a great way to get a headstart and can be bought online or at garden nurseries.
If growing kale, try opting for flat-leaf varieties. When bugs and aphids are rife this time of year. Varieties, such as ‘Nero’ are easier to harvest and clean compared to their curly leafed cousins, which I tend to grow the earlier part of the year.
Chinese cabbage can easily bolt in warmer conditions, so try to give them some shade.
To help deter pests, plant nasturtiums nearby. Butterflies and caterpillars will be drawn to these instead of your precious cabbage crop.
To improve the flavour of winter brassicas, such as swede and Brussels sprouts, harvest after a frost, as the cold temperatures turn the plants starches into sugars thus improving the flavour of these vegetables.
Whether it’s gardening, celebrating or just relaxing in your garden, make July a month of precious moments. Because as we step into autumn, it will be those memories that will carry us through the colder months and onto a new growing season.
BIOG
I’m Ade Sellars the ‘Good Life Gardener’, and I’m an award-winning garden writer, gardener designer, and filmmaker, with a passion for growing my own food in my kitchen garden. I’m also a garden presenter and I regularly stage host and deliver gardening talks around the country. My debut children’s fiction book The Plot on the Hill: The Carrot Catastrophe is now available to buy online and from all good bookstores.
Website: www.adesellars.com
Instagram: adesellars
YouTube: @TheGoodLifeGardener