Slugs are vulnerable when the soil is dry and the weather sunny.  To knock back their numbers, previously rotovated or dug land was stirred with rake, cultivator or hoe to expose the slugs to drying air and sun.  With luck a useful number will succumb to drying.  It is the smallest ones that will suffer most and these are those that do most damage and are least susceptible to slug  controls. Soil moisture losses will, I trust, be replenished by the rain forecast later this week.

Dry March weather is also ideal to clear away spent winter crops ready for the second batch of rotovating next month

Read More...

Seeds sown in the heated propagator are germinating freely now.  As the propagator lid cuts out a lot of light the plants are whisked out of the propagator and stood out on in bright cool place. My way of growing brassicas for next winter is to germinate them in pots of 50:50 vermiculite and multipupose potting media and priick out one seedling per 7cm pot of multipurpose potting media as soon as the seedlings can be handled. I like a coldframe for the growing on as this is very bright but cool giving sturdy plants in time to set out in June. At the moment I have sown: 

• Brussels sprouts, ‘Maximus’, ‘Diablo’ and ‘Revenge’ for early, Christmas and late respectively
• Calabrese ‘Fiesta’ for summer cropping
• Cabbage ‘Hispi’ for summer
• Cauliflower ‘Clapham’ for summer – it is clubroot resistant

 As these come out of the propagator the red and white storing cabbages and go in – the idea is to grow enormous heads that will store well next winter.  It is so convenient to have these hanging in the garage ready for a quick winter salad or casserole. As well as brassicas, the propagator is filled with: 

Read More...

With warming soil at last, the newly rotovated and fertilised soil was raked level and marked out for winter brassicas.  The winter brassica plot was marked out, with pegs, for three rows of Brussels sprouts, one row of purple sprouting broccoli, one row of winter savoys, one of red storing cabbage, one of swedes, one of January King cabbage, half a row each of white storing cabbage and autumn cabbage and finally a mixed row of kale, purple cape broccoli and spring cauliflowers. 

These are or will soon be, sown in pots for planting out in May and June, but in the meantime the spaces between the rows, which vary from 90cm between the sprouts, to 45cm for swedes and cabbages can be sown with small quick-growing intercrops that will use the vacant space until the brassica leaves meet over the rows in July: Read More...