Grow Your Own Magazine

I ordered some small cabbage, cauliflower, sprouting broccoli and calabrese from Marshalls in the Spring, then forgot I had ordered them. now they have arrived and in desparate need of planting out but until I get my blight ridden potatoes out of the ground I am short of space. I plan to plant them temporarily in my empty onion plant but they can't all stay there.

Will they be ok to transpant if i'm careful? And how close should I plant the cabbages? If I plant them close will they grow smaller (which would be a bonus)?.

No idea about transplanting- they do need firm ground though!
Cabbage- 12-18" apart
Cauli - just over 2'
Broccoli- 12-18"
Calabrese -12"

here is a good site ....

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/growi...bles/brassicas

and yep- the nearer you plant them, the smaller the finished product!
- but be aware you are more likely to get pest/disease transfered.

If you have nowhere else to put them, then you'll have to transplant....as needs must!

Seymour reckons that brassicas are none the worse for having been in a 'holding bed' until you've room for them. He says "As fast as peas and beans are harvested and cleared, the space is filled with well-grown brassica plants. Fitting the main brassica crop in as a catch-crop after thepeas and beans have been cleared is make possible by the use of the 'holding bead', which comes into its own this season [late summer]. Brassica seems to benefit by the twice planting out"

I sowed cabbage and caulis in jiffies at the end of March, then into 3" square pots, and only planted them out at the end of June once I'd got some spare space. So they'll have been in the ground proper for nearly 4 wks and they've come on in leaps and bounds.

I would have thought that by planting them firmly into pots, they'll suffer less root disturbance than if you plant then into the onion bed as a tempory measure. I'd be interested in what other grapes think, as I might be totally wrong about this, and am being lucky with mine!

As for distances - mine are a bit squashed in (8" to 1' apart) as there is limited space in the brassica cage, so I hope they are ok.

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

Yes, if you plant them closer together than recommended then you will get smaller plants. This is fine with cabbages, but not so good with things like purple sprouting broccoli and brussel sprouts which really do need room to develop. Having said that, your plants will probably be fine in their pots for a few days or weeks till you get your spuds cleared.

Hazel Seymour? Got a bit of a ring to it I suppose!

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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)

I presume that, if they have just been sent to you, these are winter and spring brassicas. They can be BIG plants - I would be as generous as you can be with the spacing. I had to remove half of my PS broccoli plants one year as they were much much bigger than I anticipated. Of the ones you have, calabrese can probably be planted closest, then cabbage, then caulis then PS brocc.

It is true that SOME types of cabbage will merely produce smaller heads when planted closer, but this is not always the case - I have had some refuse to head-up and try and bolt when I packed them too tightly.

Do some research about the varieties of the brassicas you have got and see whether they are noted for being large/ compact/ tall etc - that character description could be useful.

I planted cabbage (greyhound) this spring about 9" apart in a kind of diamond pattern and they have hearted up well. I'm cropping every second one (ish) to leave more space. Seems to have worked for snowball caulis too.

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You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/