Tomatoes, runners and courgettes are among the joys of summer, but if you’re into ‘grow your own’ you’ll now be faced with empty plates without a new harvest. And this is where the brassica tribe comes into its own.
Cauliflowers, broccoli, kale, cabbages and sprouts fill most of the long eight months before tasty summer veg comes on stream again.
Every season has different produce. In my book, this is what growing and eating our own produce is all about. Nothing beats the pleasure of the first sweet strawberry of summer, autumn’s succulent broccoli or a nutty winter sprout.
The last of a crop often lacks flavour so you’re keen to move on to the next pleasure. You miss all this when you fill the supermarket trolley with raspberries in January or parsnips in July. And some imported crops like pineapples are heavily treated with pesticides, before we even consider the poverty wages of workers.
Most brassicas are near the bottom of the popularity stakes. We simply can’t dispel memories of school dinner cabbages or granny’s flaccid, watery sprouts. And a tasteless cauli from the supermarket simply confirms this prejudice. Most brassicas are leafy crops so, like lettuce, quickly lose their flavour and only a freshly picked one packs a punch.
Luckily I have space for all our veg and most of our fruit so am now savouring the first of these amazingly delicious brassicas. But if you have a small garden and enjoy growing some veg, you’ve maybe managed to fit in some attractive kale, a few red cabbages or possibly broccoli. Many kale leaves like Emerald Ice and Ragged Jack, are highly decorative – a major asset in a winter bed.
So, however many brassicas you grow, you’ll know now, and over the next months, that your efforts have been well rewarded. Of course, growing brassicas can be troublesome. Almost every garden pest wants to have first go at your precious wee plant. But we can foil them.
By sowing seed you save money and get the widest choice of varieties. But it is a hassle and if you don’t have time or space, spend a bit extra and buy in plants. This applies to every vegetable under the sun apart from carrots, parsnips and turnips, that must be direct-sown.
And pests abound. With cabbage rootfly, simply foil the pest by wrapping a cabbage collar round the stem. Which is much simpler than having to construct a fleece tent to protect carrots from their fly.
Slugs? Although they simply adore tender young brassicas, they’ll tuck into everything we enjoy. So, brassicas are no different to everything else. You’ll need traps, organic slug pellets and possibly the biological slug control, Nemaslug. Don’t waste time on eggshell, soot, grit or other completely useless ‘barriers’ like that.
In fairness, cabbage white butterflies do cause us grief and even more loss of hair. I have tried the biological control, but it is expensive and was almost impossible to use.
Insect mesh provides the most effective barrier and popadome covers are available for a smaller patch. But don’t worry about protecting kale: even during last year’s plague of whites, it was largely safe.
Looking after any vegetable, or in fact any gardening, takes a bit of effort. Earthing up potatoes isn’t a walk in the park. Gently coaxing reluctant runner bean stems round their frame takes time. Think of all the loving care you devote to tomatoes: watering at least once a day, weekly feeding and constantly removing side shoots.
You get a glow of satisfaction and a tasty meal after a bit of work with any plant: no more, no less with brassicas, so enjoy.
Plant of the week
Hydrangea quercifolia. The deeply lobed leaves turn beautiful shades of bronze purple in autumn, complementing the remaining flower heads now faded to dusky pink.
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