Planting out Brassicas

Yesterday it was time to plant out the Brassicas that have been growing in seed tray inserts in my plastic mini-greenhouse on the patio at home. Usually I grow these under netting at the allotment, but whilst this stops them getting eaten by the birds the netting was never enough protection to keep out the butterflies and dreaded caterpillars that usually cover them in holes. So this year I'm using Enviromesh for the first time. First I built a cage from bamboo canes, using Build A Ball to connect them together, and then draped the Enviromesh over it, held down with pegs and water filled milk cartons.


Inside the cage I planted White Cabbage (Holland White) Red Cabbage (Red Rookie), Savoy Cabbage (Mila), Cauliflower (Gypsy) and Brocoli (Belstar).

I also picked some more Broad Beans and the first couple of Onions and Shallots were picked (see below).

Getting Planted

I spent the best part of 2 days at the allotment last week, during a week off from work, and managed to get absolutely loads done. The main task was to get the newer plot into shape. Before starting, about half of the plot was covered by black plastic. By the time I'd finished, the whole plot was uncovered and everything that had been covered was dug over and manured. As you can see above, the Runner Beans (Enorma) and Sweetcorn (Tender&Sweet) have been planted out. I dug a large trench for the beans first, emptying the contents of a compost bin into it plus a little manure, then added the canes. There are 2 buckets sunk into the ground in between the canes, with holes drilled in the bottom, to make it easier to water them once they're established. Behind the Beans and Sweetcorn you can see the soil that has been dug over ready for where the Squash plants will go. I've put a cane in place in each position where a Squash will be planted. Beyond that set of canes, and after the weed fabric path, you can see an area where I sowed another set of Peas. These were Greensage which are supposed to be a self-supporting variety. I haven't tried these before, so I'm waiting to see how well they do without any form of support.


On the other side of the same plot (to the right of where the Beans are) is another area dug and with canes in place ready for more Squash plants. As you can see above I also planted out 4 courgette plants. There are 2 Zucchini and 2 Gold Rush Yellow plants.


I then planted out the French Beans (Maxi) at the back of the old plot and sowed a few extra seeds directly to make up for those that hadn't germinated in the newspaper pots at home. I've generally been very pleased with using the newspaper pots. It makes planting out very easy. I just use a bulb planter to make a hole in the ground, then drop the newspaper pot into the hole and firm in. Very quick to do.


Another job was to weed and thin out the Parsnip (Archer) seedlings that were direct sown at the start of April. Unlike last year, where only about 12 seeds germinated, this year I have 3 very good rows with excellent germination (see above). I think keeping them covered with the plastic polytunnel cloche for the first few weeks made a difference.


I earthed up the Potatoes a couple of weeks ago and they're all showing through again now and making good progress (see above).


The strawberry plants are already starting to form strawberrys (see above). They must have been helped along with the very warm (and dry) April followed by the very wet start to May. Just need some sun again now to ripen them. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the Cherry tree I planted a year ago has started to form some Cherries (see right). To stop the birds picking them off I've draped some netting over the tree.

Broad Beans

I picked the first Broad Beans on 31st April. Very pleased at how early they were ready and at just how many pods there were for picking. Picked a large carrier bag of pods (see right) and podded them (see above). I've since picked the same amount again and there are still more to come. This is from 2 rows of Aquadulce Claudia sown at the start of November.