I give up

[Chocolate8me]

Do you know which you've got? Acidic, or alkaline?

I don't but I'm off to the garden centre on Friday (found a new one last weekend on the way to Wales, woo-hoo), I'm going to get a soil testing kit.

I do know it's not firm soil in my raised bed because 75% was sieved, the other 25% is Compost.

[Piggle]

Right it's done - they can get on with it. I've tried everything - different bags of seed compost , sterilising this, sterilising that . What a faff.

[greenishfing]

Until three years ago I was useless at growing brassicas. I mollycoddled them to the extreme and still used to resort to buying sets in the end. Then I tried a new ( for me) method. In a spare piece of ordinary soil I marked out lines about 6 inches apart and scraped out a V of soil about an inch deep for each one and nearly filled it with compost. Then I sprinkled in the brassica seeds and covered with more compost. I always plant plenty of seeds as deep down I'm not convinced they will grow, but ever since I've used this method I've been giving surplus plants away to all the neighbouring allotments.

[winstonwobble]

im having the same problem driving me mad might not bother with brassicas this year!

[taff]

Dont give up
You still have friends

Yes. Friends with cabbages

but no seriously...stop treating them well, treat them like the big green hairy things they are and let them do or die in the outside world....

[Normans Mum]

Uh-oh. Got me worried now as I am an absolute beginner at growing brassies.... mine have been potted on in to small pots, have 3-4 leaves and seem to be doing alright, thankyou very much. Probably have spoken out loud and too soon... :O

[Piggle]

I think you're alright if you can get them past the dreaded first leaf stage.

Left them all out last night and they're all still alive.........

[Alison]

My biggest problem with them when they're little tends to be slugs.