May hasn't got off to too bad a start but the wind's coming from the north east which is rarely a good direction for us.
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| Temperature & Wind Direction 01-03 May 2017 |
Coming from this direction usually means lots of clouds being dragged in with the breeze from the North Sea. We still haven't got that rain which we could do with.
On the plot we harvested the last of our Aalsmeer cauliflowers. All the roots were dug up and none of them showed any signs of club root. It's a variety we'll be trying again as an over wintering type to produce an early spring crop.
As you can see from the photo one of the plants decided to produce a little extra crop of cauliflower spears. These grew from the base and curved around the main head of the plant. I haven't noticed that happening on cauliflowers before.
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That cauliflower is half-and-half with broccoli! In Cornwall, where I lived as a child, cauliflower was always referred to as Broccoli anyway. That was before PSB etc became well-known in the UK.
ReplyDeleteThat's what's called a bit on the side. Aalsmeer is on the list for next year - or even this autumn!
ReplyDeleteI've still to decided whether to use seed or buy in plants.
DeleteWere these plants? As a rule you get less choice with plants so seeds is the only option if you are going for something particular/out of fashion. To explain my prejudice: Either because I am tight fisted or a purist I very rarely buy vegetable plants and never admit to resorting to this last ditch measure. This year with my home greenhouse setup I have no problem filling every square inch of my plot with home grown. The Beechgrove Garden last night had some examples of plants through the post that were varied in quality. I know you have written on this in the past yourselves and also have taken on a large area in which you will always have some gaps to fill.
DeleteYes they were plants Mal.
DeleteI’ve sorted out the Aalsmeer cauliflowers for next year and I’m going to try growing them from seed. I agree with you that buying in plants is expensive. I only do it a last resort or for very early plants I don’t think I can raise myself.
Found some Aalsmeer cauliflower seed at our local garden centre. It’s Kings seeds and there’s 95 seeds for £1.70. I don’t think I can complain too much about that.
The instructions are to sow seeds in May and June to plant out in June July and harvest April and May of the flowing year. I didn’t get my plants until September so I was probably lucky to get any caulis at all.