Broccoli, Kohlrabi, Savoy, Cauliflower And Other Cabbages In My Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Favorite cabbages delight with harvest every year

Assorted cabbage

Cabbage is my favorite vegetable, it has the best place in the garden. Those who have grown this crop know that no vegetable attracts as many pests as it does. These are all kinds of caterpillars, fleas, aphids, and cabbage does not bypass diseases.

Therefore, when I see beautiful cabbage heads on store shelves, I sadly imagine how much the manufacturer used chemistry to grow such attractive products. Whenever possible, I try not to buy cabbage in stores and on the wounds, but grow it myself without the use of pesticides and other toxic substances.

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In my garden there are white cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi and red cabbage. Several times I planted Brussels sprouts, but only once I got a good harvest. Unfortunately, I cannot find early varieties of this cabbage on sale, and late varieties do not always have time to ripen.

Previously, I grew cabbage seedlings only in a cold greenhouse, but in recent years, due to the vagaries of the weather, I also began to grow seedlings at home, on the windowsill. To do this, at the beginning of March, I sow cabbage seeds in flower pots with light, fertile soil (the height of the pots should be at least 12-15 cm, especially for cauliflower and broccoli. I must disinfect the earth (I warm it up in the oven or spill it with a dark solution of potassium permanganate). Before sowing, I also pickle the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate so that the black leg disease does not ruin the young crops.

I sow cabbage seeds in a cold greenhouse as soon as the soil warms up enough, in late March - early April. Sometimes, after a winter with little snow and frosty winter, the bottom layer of the earth does not warm up for a long time in the greenhouse, for this case, in the fall, I prepare a nursery in the garden. I choose a bright area in the garden, spread a plastic wrap on it, pour fertile soil 10-15 cm high on it, install wire arcs and leave it for the winter.

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Such different cauliflower

In the spring, I cover the arcs with plastic wrap and wait for the soil to warm up. Usually, cabbage can be sown in such a nursery at the end of March or at the beginning of April. Before planting seedlings in a permanent place, I make holes, put handfuls of wood ash and a little rotted manure into them, mix and water everything. When planting seedlings, I bury the plants to the first true leaf.

Plant care consists in timely watering (all types of cabbage suffer from a lack of moisture) and feeding. I do the first feeding 10 days after planting the seedlings: one part of the mullein per ten parts of water. When growing cauliflower, I also add boron, molybdenum, magnesium and manganese to the top dressing. I feed the plants three times a season.

Late varieties of white cabbage, as well as cauliflower and broccoli, as they grow, I must spud. In dry summers, cabbage is damaged by a cruciferous flea. In just a couple of days, this pest can destroy all seedlings, therefore, at the first appearance of a flea, I dust the soil around the plants and the plants themselves with wood ash. I defend myself from other cabbage pests like this: after planting the seedlings in the beds, I install wire arches, and cover them with a mosquito net on top until the seedlings grow up.

If caterpillars appear on adult plants, I collect them by hand or spray them with herbal infusions. The best remedy for all kinds of caterpillars is a decoction of stepchildren and tops of tomatoes: I pour 40 grams of green, chopped mass with one liter of water, boil over low heat for 30 minutes. I dilute a glass of such a broth with a liter of water - the "poison" against pests is ready. A very effective remedy for caterpillars is an infusion of green burdock leaves. I add 2/3 of a bucket of water to 1/3 of a bucket of crushed leaves and leave for a day.

Savoy cabbage

Against aphids and spider mites, I spray the plants with infusion of potato tops. To do this, I insist 1.2 kg of crushed green mass for 2-3 hours in 10 liters of water (you can also use dry tops at the rate of 0.8 kg per 10 liters of water). With this infusion from spider mites, I spray cucumbers and eggplants. I process the plants in the late afternoon, carefully sprinkling the lower part of the leaves. Up to 90% of the ticks die on the second day. If necessary, I spray 3-4 times per season.

When buying cabbage seeds, I give preference to varieties and producers that have already been tested by time, but for testing I buy a few new varieties.

There are so many good varieties of white cabbage that it is difficult to give preference to any variety.

Of the early varieties, the Transfer F1 hybrid never failed. His heads of cabbage are dense, of excellent taste, ripen early, do not crack. Among the late varieties of universal purpose, I always grow the Moscow late variety or the Belorusskaya variety, and the Amager variety for storage. Sauerkraut is on our table almost all year round. I cook it as consumed.

For growing cauliflower, I sow seeds of an early variety Snow Globe or Guarantee. This year I planted a hybrid Malimba F1 and a variety Snowball 123, and at the beginning of July I cut the first heads of excellent quality. For several years I have been growing a cauliflower of the Lilac ball variety.

I believe that the taste of this variety is better than that of white cauliflower varieties. If anyone doesn't like the cabbage smell of white cauliflower, then the purple and purple cauliflower varieties will suit their taste. I freeze most of the cauliflower. I don't boil it before freezing it, as the books advise. I just disassemble the head of cabbage into inflorescences, put them in plastic bags and put them in the freezer.

At Savoy cabbage varieties are not very many. This year I planted an early Zolotaya early variety. The first head of cabbage ripened earlier than that of the early white cabbage, but when overgrown, the cabbage heads crack. This cabbage is good for salads and for filling pies. I really like the mid-late variety Vertus.

The leaves of this variety are strongly corrugated and turn bright green during heat treatment. Cabbage rolls from such leaves look very impressive, and the leaves of such cabbage taste very delicate. In addition, this variety can be stored for several months.

Since the growing season for kohlrabi is not very long, here the variety does not matter much to me. I mainly grow this cabbage of the Vienna Blue variety. Her turnip is small - just for one salad. You can cook many dishes from it, but I really love stuffed kohlrabi.

Broccoli will ripen soon

The most common variety of broccoli is Tonus. I tried to grow the Calabrez variety, but it is not always on sale, and in terms of quality it is inferior to Tonus. In my garden, I plant only 2-3 broccoli cabbage plants. This plant has an amazing repair ability. After removing the apical inflorescence, smaller heads appear in the leaf axils.

Until the very frost, I harvest, the main thing is to have time to cut the inflorescences in time so that they do not overgrow. I dry and freeze the cut inflorescences, just like cauliflower. In winter, I add broccoli inflorescences to borscht. Hot water turns cabbage into a bright green color. This makes the dish very nice. In the summer I cook salads with raw broccoli, but you can boil and marinate this cabbage.

I plant a little red cabbage. These are mainly grades of long-term storage, such as Stone Head or Ruby. Red cabbage salad - decoration of the New Year's table! And I also pick it up and pickle it.

Read the next part. Recipes from different cabbage →.