spring cabbages and caulis bounding away !

[Normans Mum]

Hi all
Sowed some cauli (all year round) and some spring greens about three weeks ago. All are now at 4 leaf stage. Have I sown them too early do you think?
Know that they wont be ready to go out until Spring, but presumably they will be ok to pot on if they continue at this pace?

[BertieFox]

Exactly the right time to sow them, but if winter is at all cold, they will need some protection. Pot on while they are still growing, and then keep them in a cold frame or greenhouse until spring when you can plant them out, having hardened them off first, and ideally under some kind of protection like plastic cloches. That way you should have some bumper caulis and cabbage early in the summer or late spring. I do the same thing every year, but I'm lucky to have a large polytunnel which means caulis in April!

[TrialAndError]

Exactly the right time to sow them,

I thought spring cabbage seed should be sown around July time, mid-September at the latest?

I also thought they grew fine outside during the winter with no need for protection.

[Bigmallly]

I also thought they grew fine outside during the winter with no need for protection.

They do, All Year Round Caulis (hence the name) just need netting for protection against the birds.

[BertieFox]

The poster lives in Manchester, which I thought was quite a cold area, so winter caulis might have a very hard time of it if we have a cold winter. We certainly can't overwinter them here outside any year and have to protect them from the worst in a tunnel, but we do get alternating very cold frosts (minus 10 or more) and warm periods which turn them to mush. The same is true of spring cabbage. Using protection, you CAN sow them much later and they will produce lots of leaf and early heads in the spring. Perhaps using fleece you might get the same result or polythene cloches. If we sowed spring cabbage here in late July or even early September the plants would be too large and leafy to stand up to cold winter weather. It's all down to the type of climate you enjoy. When we lived in the west of the UK we certainly never had any problem growing these crops outside.

[Bigmallly]

Guy on next plot to me over winters AYR Caulis & has cracking results...........Not a great deal of difference in the weather between Manc & Leeds

[BertieFox]

As a 'southerner', well from the west, perhaps we have prejudiced views about the 'frozen north'. All I know is that when we came to this part of France we rather thought we would have balmy mild winters as well as nice warm summers. The summers have been great, but the winters are very cold, with minus 21C being our record so far. The cold snaps alternate with much warmer wet days, so brassicas, even kale, gets frozen solid and then thawed repeatedly. So it's almost impossible to overwinter them outside. Broad beans suffer the same fate. It's easy to forget how mild most of the UK actually is most winters compared to a continental climate. Anyway, good luck with all those wonderful caulis and greens; I guess we should consider moving to Brittany where they grow most of the spring caulis for the rest of France, and the UK too.

[Bigmallly]

Just out of interest, I have emailed the local radio station as I am interested in their opinion (being experts).

[lottie dolly]

I sowed some spring cabbage a few months ago,along with some cavalo di nero,whilst i had my eye of the ball,they were caterpillard to near death,i left them to see if the center would shoot again,although they were still in cell trays,and stems very sturdy,standing aprox 4in tall,they di have some small leaves coming forth,so i have given them the benefit of the doubt,and planted them in the ground,right up to the first new leaves,they have 2 chances,just need to keep an eye for the shells and slimmies,at this time of year the ground was sitting there ,