Wednesday 16 November 2011

A second chance

A couple of months ago, when I had all the trouble with Cabbage Root Fly attacking my young brassicas, I potted-up a couple of the Flower Sprout plants, to act as Reserves. In the end they were not needed, but they have hung on unobtrusively, awaiting their opportunity. Because they have been in smallish pots, their growth has been constrained and they are very small - about a third of the size of the ones growing in the raised beds. This week I used up the last of the Celeriac, thereby creating a vacant space, and the Flower Sprouts finally got their chance:


With plenty of room to grow now, and with an added dose of Vitax fertiliser, I'm hopeful that these two plants will go on to produce a viable crop. If they do, it will almost certainly be later than their earlier-planted siblings, so that may work out well for me in the end, extending my harvesting season.

At the other end of the same bed are some Swiss Chard and Perpetual Spinach plants. I cut them right back, nearly to ground level, a couple of weeks ago, because they were suffering severely with Powdery Mildew. They have responded enthusiastically to the severe pruning and are producing another crop of succulent leaves with no trace of mildew.

Swiss Chard

Perpetual Spinach
At this time of year, all my photos include lots of fallen leaves. Earlier in the week I did have a go at removing some of them with my electric "leaf-sucker" machine, but I had to give up before the job was finished as it began to rain and the machine doesn't handle wet leaves very well. I also realised that I probably need about three more compost bins to accommodate all the leaves from my Maple tree!

10 comments:

  1. Which bit do you eat - is it like a PSB or a loose sprout?

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  2. Elaine; With the Flower Sprouts you eat the loose sprouts, but I imagine that the tops would also be good. Allegedly it tastes like kale.

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  3. I like this idea of perpetual spinach! Do you use any of the maple leaves for compost?

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  4. I've had awful problems with leaf miners in several of my plants this year - including swiss chard, rendering most of it inedible . . . until now. The miners have gone and suddenly the chard looks big and green and tempting.

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  5. Jenni; Yes, I collect up most of the maple leaves and let them decompose in a plastic compost-bin - which takes a LONG time! When they are ready, I use the leaves as a mulch and soil-improver.

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  6. Looks good! Plants look nice and healthy after the pruning.

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  7. I hope that leaf sucker doesn't suck up plants too. Martyn has pondered whether one would be good for the lawn.

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  8. That chard has come back really well - I hope my chard plants don't hear that they can catch powdery mildew - its one of the few plants in my garden that seems pretty resistent....

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  9. The perpetual spinach looks really good and as for the flower sprouts, maybe you should grow a few extra every year just so you can do this again.

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  10. Your spinach is looking great, makes me wonder what mine is doing under its fleece cloch. Hope I get up there this weekend to find out...

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