Grow Your Own Magazine

I have been gardening for 58 years since the age of 7 and I have never had any luck with swede they turn out to be the size of raddish. Can anyone give me some advice please.

I've had some success with Swedes - I harvested and ate the first one at the weekend.

I grow mine in with the brassicas, under a cover of fine enviromesh for the whole growing season. I keep the rows close so that the combined tops keep the roots in shade and hopefully reduce water loss from the soil. I expect the mesh may also keep it a little more humid, but the reason I use it on there is to protect against flea beetle.

The key i think is making sure that they get adequate water tho - I treat them as a "thirsty" crop when doing the rounds. Hope that helps.

__________________
Douglas

http://www.myvegetablegarden.co.uk/ - under construction

I treat my swedes with no care and attention and they come out fine.

Literally;
chuck some seed in a small pot and ignore for 3 weeks.
Tip the pot out and pop somewhere for another month whilst the spuds are growing [I mean a seed bed or some corner somewhere in real soil, not in a pot].

transplant when you have room

water in

ignore.

come back in a few months and see the swedes starting to bulk up.

__________________
Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

Haven't grown any brassica's this year due to bad infestation of cabbage butterflies caterpillars last year,but I've never had problems growing Swedes,usually grew "marion" and fed with chicken pellet manure.

Thanks for help with my swede problem will give it a go

The only problem i have is pigions.allways put a met over trhem now

I've had problems in the past too, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed this year. I sowed the seed into modules in June and when big enough planted out, they have been covered with fleece ever since and although I have found a few caterpillars they are doing really well

Swedes like 'heavy ground' ie. clay soil, so if you don't have that, you have to try & mimic it. You can sow seeds into module/cell trays of compost, really firm down the compost, dib a small hole & sow 2 seeds, firm the compost down on top. Keep damp until seeds germinate, then thin out the weakest seedling. Transplant the seedlings into their growing position when they have a set of true leaves - if sandy soil, really tread the soil before & after planting, if loam or clay, firm the plants in by treading after planting.
Keep them watered in dry spells - a good soaking once a week.

The plants can be susceptible to other brassica problems such as cabbage white caterpillars, flea beetle (if the ground is too dry), club-root, etc.

I've grown Best of All & Marian and they both did fine.

__________________
Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Trouble is that swede are are a member of the brassica family and suffer all the same problems.

__________________
The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

I thinks that swedes are worth persevering with, my crop is now ready for pulling and apart from a few caterpillars have grown relatively unscathed. There is always next year

i'm not sure what's going on with mine, my turnips in the next patch were broadcast over the bed and trodden in, i did exactly the same with the swedes, the turnips have been producing decent sized turnips for the last few weeks, but the swedes have no swelling yet at all ...... is this normal for them to take much longer than turnips? the turnips are purple milan, cant remember the swedes

__________________
sometimes i do talk complete and utter rubbish ...... just ignore me if i do ........i'll go away eventually

http://teachy.myminicity.com/

Yup, they take alot longer than turnips. You could get 2 or 3 crops of turnips in the same time it takes a swede to grow.

You've just got to leave them be. They will thicken up in their own good time.

__________________
Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

Marian is one of the clubroot resistant ones!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

that's ok then i thought i'd done something wrong, will look forward to them swelling then.

__________________
sometimes i do talk complete and utter rubbish ...... just ignore me if i do ........i'll go away eventually

http://teachy.myminicity.com/

I can't grow swedes to save my life (it's free-draining sandy soil here)

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

i believe that swedes like open space like large fields where the air can get around them.

__________________
good Diggin, Chuffa.

Oh, is it? You live & learn Thank goodness, clubroot isn't something I have a problem with - one of the advantages of a lottie which was overgrown for many years

__________________
Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

i had to pull up all my swedes,some were actually rotting,bless your life,all the top foliage,what was left of it,looked like it had the mainge,so decided was best to clear the ground,very disapionted,last year on my previouse plot they did great,all sowed in modules,it also helps beat the weeds up lol,there final placings were aprox 1foot apart,maybe best to give them more room next year.

Sounds like mildew which they are very prone to? If so, you can get mildew resistant swedes as well.

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

For me, they seem to grow better when crowded, so when I plant I make sure the seeds are closer than you would grow them, take out every second seedling and transplant to form 'another' row.

__________________
http://junctionvillage.blogspot.com/

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
- Mark Twain

....would explain why last year (grown on our heavy soil~I didn't hold out much hope!!)they did great!!Whereas this year(dedicated a row on the nicer soiled plot)I'll need to be using 3 for a decent stew!
Maybe there's benefits to the ol' claggy heavy soil after all!!

__________________
the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

Pulled up three swedes yesterday they are small but I was thining them out to give others more room. The chap next door has huge ones not in clay soil but very fine lovely soil that I wish I could achieve.