Cabbage Casualty

A few days ago I planted out some seedlings of the cabbage "Tundra". This variety is allegedly very winter-hardy. It is a bit like a savoy, but not quite -- more like January King I think -- just right for with a beef and mushroom casserole and celeriac mash!

 I know it is a bit late for planting out cabbages (although the seed pack says "Sow March to July" and I did sow mine in July), but I am hoping they will survive to maturity, or at least grow to a useable size. I may have to cover them with fleece a bit later on.

Here are the seedlings just after I pricked them out into individual pots (on August 14th).

Cabbage seedlings - Tundra

Here are some of the same seedlings just after planting out (on August 22nd)

Cabbage seedlings planted out

Cabbage seedling planted out

You can see that I have used plant collars to minimise the risk of infestation by Cabbage Root Fly, which may try to lay their eggs on the stem just under ground level. I find the collars also aid stability of the seedling in its early stages. I have also put a small cane next to each seedling. This is to try to deter foxes and cats, both of which inflict occasional damage in the raised beds.

This is what happened to one of the newly-planted seedlings a few days later (August 27th). During the spell of very wet weather we had, the slugs had a Field Day and one of the cabbage seedlings became a victim. You can see that the stem is eaten-through at ground level (this was under the collar), and the leaves are ragged and full of holes

Cabbage seedling damaged by slugs

I replaced the damaged seedling with a spare one, so maybe this one will survive to maturity. A liberal sprinkling of slug-pellets is now in place...