baby swedes???

[MIDDLE AGED BEGINNER]

i planted some swedes out quite late around early may time and hoped to still get some good veg. i was hopeful as they were forming nicely: however the caterpillars have had every bit of greenery on them in the last couple of days. can they be harvested as baby veg or do i just bear the loss-- prob my fault as i knew the white butterfly was around but didnt realise swede needed the same precautions as the cabbages,calabrese etc!! starting to realise that this veg growing has quite a steep learning curve!!

[Sebbster]

Pull them and steam them, best early anyway, yes not quite this early but I'm sure they should be at least 2 inch wide by now so use them.

[Sue]

MAB
Can I intrude on your thread, was just about to post a query on swedes. I looked at mine at the weekend, great amount of foliage, very little going on down below! Last year I had problems with cabbages having S bends in their stalks and found I wasn't planting them firmly enough but these, looking just the same were seed sown in situ, what am I doing wrong?
Sue

[veg4681]

MAB,
I may be going to have the same dilema as you. I had noticed small holes on my cabbages when they were much smaller (did nothing plus used no netting being a Brassica virgin) and although the level of nibbling have reduced or even stopped, I read somewhere that the grubs could have got right inside the cabbage heart so I too may need to think about pulling the cabbage prematurely. Swede is also a brassica apparently which I didn't know until recently!

[MIDDLE AGED BEGINNER]

sue,
wish i knew the answer to this as i have had similar probs-- i was assuming it was because i had sown them too shallow but i am sure there will be someone along with the definitive answer soon!!

[MIDDLE AGED BEGINNER]

MAB,
I may be going to have the same dilema as you. I had noticed small holes on my cabbages when they were much smaller (did nothing plus used no netting being a Brassica virgin) and although the level of nibbling have reduced or even stopped, I read somewhere that the grubs could have got right inside the cabbage heart so I too may need to think about pulling the cabbage prematurely. Swede is also a brassica apparently which I didn't know until recently!

that was where i went wrong- nets over all the crops i knew to be brassicas but swedes left on their own as silly me thought they were more of a root crop--doh!!!