The Hispi Cabbage That Defied All Odds

[self-contained]

Last year, the one thing that I most wanted to grow was cabbage, so that I could make sauerkraut that was truly from scratch.

I planted lots of Hispi cabbages. Had a great germination rate. Pricked them out and potted them on to small pots. Tended to them, nurtured them, etc.

Put them outside to start hardening off. A couple of hours here, a couple there to begin with. Finally, the big day had come and I left them out all night. The next morning, they had been razed to the ground by slugs. Utterly destroyed.

I was disheartened and abandoned thoughts of a cabbage crop. The pots that had housed my cabbage seedlings were left, scattered across the ground like a graveyard to my brave little cabbages. A couple of months later, I noticed that one plant had regrown a couple of leaves. Too late to plant out into a proper container, I left it to meet its fate, its pot already fallen onto its side.

Slugs came and went, but the little cabbage plant somehow escaped their notice, even as other slug food sources slowly disappeared. Winter came, and the 8 cm pot froze and thawed repeatedly, but the cabbage soldiered on. Snow covered it for days on end, but each time it melted, the little cabbage was there.

The little cabbage is still there. The pot still on its side. It's barely grown in the last few months, confined as it is in a tiny pot. But it lives.

So now what?

What can I do to revitalise the poor little chap? Just stick him into a bigger pot (it's containers only in my garden) with fresh compost when the weather picks up a bit? After he's come through so much, I'd be sorry to lose him now.

[Bigmallly]

You've nowt to lose by potting it on, at best it will heart up, at worse it will bolt but at least you can say you gave it a chance.

[Bren In Pots]

Like BM says you really ought to pot on, all you have to lose is a bit of time and compost.

[Penellype]

Cabbages will often re-sprout if the top is cut off, as long as there is a bud available (ie the stem was cut above the lowest leaf joint).

Young brassicas are always a target for slugs. What I do is cut sections of plastic bottles and stick a piece of copper tape round to make a copper ring. Then when I am planting out I put a ring round each stem. You have to be careful that none of the leaves form a bridge that the slugs can climb across, but I find this system works well and mostly protects the plants until they are big enough to cope with a bit of slug damage.

[nickdub]

I used to put a mixture of soot and ash from my log-burner round the base of little plants (near but not touching) which proved a good barrier against the slugs when dry. These days I've grown lazy, and after combined attacks from deer and rabbits I haven't tried growing this sort of veg for ages.

[muck lover]

Last year, the one thing that I most wanted to grow was cabbage, so that I could make sauerkraut that was truly from scratch.

I planted lots of Hispi cabbages. Had a great germination rate. Pricked them out and potted them on to small pots. Tended to them, nurtured them, etc.

Put them outside to start hardening off. A couple of hours here, a couple there to begin with. Finally, the big day had come and I left them out all night. The next morning, they had been razed to the ground by slugs. Utterly destroyed.

I was disheartened and abandoned thoughts of a cabbage crop. The pots that had housed my cabbage seedlings were left, scattered across the ground like a graveyard to my brave little cabbages. A couple of months later, I noticed that one plant had regrown a couple of leaves. Too late to plant out into a proper container, I left it to meet its fate, its pot already fallen onto its side.

Slugs came and went, but the little cabbage plant somehow escaped their notice, even as other slug food sources slowly disappeared. Winter came, and the 8 cm pot froze and thawed repeatedly, but the cabbage soldiered on. Snow covered it for days on end, but each time it melted, the little cabbage was there.

The little cabbage is still there. The pot still on its side. It's barely grown in the last few months, confined as it is in a tiny pot. But it lives.

So now what?

What can I do to revitalise the poor little chap? Just stick him into a bigger pot (it's containers only in my garden) with fresh compost when the weather picks up a bit? After he's come through so much, I'd be sorry to lose him now.

I got a bit emotional reading this. Be good to little Hispi. It’s had a rough start in life.

[Snoop Puss]

After all that, you're thinking of eating it?!

[self-contained]

Here is little Hispi, potted on



At least, I think he is little Hispi and not little Random Weed That Has Been Growing in Plant Pot That Formerly Housed Hispi.

The seedling to the right is also a Hispi cabbage and is the only one of my leftover seed to germinate this year.

[veggiechicken]

If I'm not mistaken, that's Henry Hispi, the little cabbage that ran away from home to go on an adventure in North Derbyshire.
The Hispi family are well known explorers. One of the early Hispi's discovered Hispaniola - not many people know that!!
I hope Henry settles with you and overcomes his wanderlust.

[hamamelis]

What you should do next is write a children's book; The Little Cabbage That Could.

[self-contained]

One month later and look at him go!

[Snoop Puss]

Is he calling for new 'accommodations', as American TV series put it? (I've never understood why they use the s at the end.)

[self-contained]

Is he calling for new 'accommodations', as American TV series put it? (I've never understood why they use the s at the end.)

I think so but I have many things to pot on and I am running out of pots!

[Snoop Puss]

^But surely he deserves one after all his efforts?

[self-contained]

I will see what I can do today. I don't really fancy trekking into town and Tesco was out of suitably sized pots on my late night foray yesterday. However, I think I have one pot that may just do...