Don't get too excited though, it's only small at present.
My other two varieties have no flowers just yet. This one is "Early Purple Sprouting".
And this one is "Red Spear".
The side-shoots of "Red Spear" are growing quickly though:
The Brokali "Endeavour" also shows signs of flowering:
Actually, that looks suspiciously like bolting. Let's hope it isn't.
Meanwhile, in the bed next door, the Asparagus fern has now turned mostly yellow, and I will therefore soon be cutting it down. I still haven't decided what to do about trying to transplant some of it or replace it.
I think I might hedge my bets and transplant the best of the plants and replace the others with new stock when I build my next lot of raised beds in the Late Winter / Early Spring.
Elsewhere, I think I have some Strawberry plants somewhere...
I have been planning to pot-up a few runners, but I seem to have managed to put it off somehow. It's not a big job, but I have just not got round to it. Maybe this weekend...?
I still have some nice Endives in the garden, and we are eating them quite frequently, along with the last few lettuces.
I'm planning to harvest the first of my Leeks (and possibly Parsnips) within the next few days, so hopefully I'll be able to write about them soon. (Don't build your hopes up, I'm expecting both to be pretty poor). We still haven't had any frost, and I keep saying to myself that I won't lift any Parsnips until we have.
The Brussels Sprouts are pretty much ready. If we didn't already have some shop-bought ones in the fridge, I'd be picking some today!
The outer surfaces of the sprouts are a bit discoloured with the sooty mould, but I'm confident that once the first one or two leaves have been removed they will be fine.
This weekend we have more typical Autumn weather - heavy rain and strong winds over most of the country - so it seems there may not be much gardening going on....
Everything looks so pretty to me, crisp and clean. If I had brassicas they would have aphids and holes from the cabbage worms and be bolting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful broccoli! And nary an aphid in sight. Do you get many aphids in yor brassicas? It seems that you have a lot of problems with cabbage worms in your brassicas but you don't mention aphids. The worms aren't too much of a problem in my garden but the aphids can take over in a flash. The broccolis look very promising with all those side shoots.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I presume that what you call worms are what we call caterpillars? If that is so, I have very few of them, thanks to my anti-butterfly netting! not many aphids about at present but Whitefly is the real problem, and there is not much one can do about it.
DeletePSB already, I'm very jealous. Your sprouts look great and I'm like you, I like to get some frost to parsnips before I dig them up. I found a ripe strawberry on my alpine strawberry plant in the garden this week, I don't think the plants realise that winter's on the way.
ReplyDeleteThose Brussels sprouts look great, despite the sooty mould - they are so big! Your asparagus looks at exactly the same stage as mine - this is my first year with asparagus and I'm quite enjoying the look of all the ferns on the hilltop.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise brokali also had edible flower heads. I thought it was just the leaves that you ate. We've never grown sprouts where you didn't need to take away one or two leaves before eating.
ReplyDeleteWe must also cut back the asparagus and give the crowns a good mulch, no point in leaving the foliage any longer as there's no sun to convert into sugars.
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