The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. Gertrude Jekyll

Annie's Little Plot

Annie's Little Plot

Friday 28 October 2011

The pigeons didn't beat me!

After a bit of a disatrous start with the brassicas, the pigeons cleared them out initially but they have done OK (http://annieslittleplot.blogspot.com/2011/07/kaleidoscope-of-colour.html).  The first small plants I put in were completely shredded by the pigeons and once I realised that was what was eating them I soon invested in some netting. Luckily I had grown on more plants than I needed so had a second chance. I planted some Calabrese 'Belstar' which had lovely big heads and when I chopped the main head off they sprouted quite a few smaller ones. The Kale has been cropping for ages, I have planted two varieties, the Black Tuscan (Carvelo nero) and 'Scarlet' which has a hint of red so looks good too. I planted some cabbage 'Primo' which was OK but I should have just planted that later as its not really something I eat much of over the summer and would have been better as a winter crop. I also probably planted the purple sprouting broccoli too early too as I've been harvesing that off and on for quite a few weeks and I'm not sure how long that will last into the winter but we'll see.















I'm particularly excited about my Romanesco broccoli, only a couple got past the seedling stage! Its the first time that I have grown that and I can't wait to pick this.






3 comments:

  1. I grew some summer cabbage too and wish I hadn't bothered, they grew well enough, but there is so much else to eat in summer. I'm surprised as your purple broc I didn't realise it could be eaten this early, mine is huge but shows no sign of any spears yet.

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  2. Hi Elaine, yes think I'll just grow some cabbage for winter next year. The variety of purple sprouting broccoli was called 'Early sprouting Rudolph' but didn't expect it this early. Hopefully it will keep cropping for a while as long as I keep picking it.

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  3. I only tried cavolo nero this year because I'd heard brassicas were difficult and I didn't want to get disheartened in my first year. I've been picking it since July and it's been a real success. Think I might be a bit more adventurous next year. Love the romanesco broccoli.

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