Brassicas in General - a Guide

NVS Home - About NVS - Grow & Show - Web Links - News - NVS Shop - Contact

Latest Article

Tomato Yellow Peach

This year I tried the "Heritage" tomatoes offered as plants. Not all the plants supplied survived and grew but of those that did one cultivar, Yellow Peach, seemed to me to be outstanding.

more ...

Bob Herbert, Sheffield, Yorkshire

Brassicas, the word is a group name which was the preserve of the botanist in the days when a gardener lumped the varied members of the genus Brassica together as "greens". Greens, perhaps, describes the group more accurately as it covers that group of vegetables where the portion consumed is above the ground as distinct from roots where the part below ground level is eaten.

The most common brassicas all developed from a single species of plant, the wild cabbage, Brassica oleracea. This is still widespread, although not common, as a wild plant on sea cliffs, around Britain from Dover to north Wales, along the coast of western Europe and around the Mediterranean. Over thousands of years it has developed neatly into such diverse plants as cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and many other kinds.

The hybridist has improved on nature's own diversity. What seems to have happened, however, is that with the improvement in size, flavour and texture, many kinds appear to have lost hardiness. This is shown most obviously by the devastation of so many green crops during severe winters.

Working, perhaps, from the observed resistance of wild cabbages on the sea coast to severe weather, gardeners decided that salt spray gave resistance to frost and treated their brassicas with a cube of salt in autumn. The salt, one cubic inch per plant, was measured using a potato with a cubic inch cut out.

What appears to cause the breakdown by frost of modern brassica leaves is alternate freezing and thawing. I have found that by giving individual plants a teaspoon of salt, the modern equivalent of a cubic inch, a resistance to this freezing is developed -just like topping up the car's radiator with anti freeze! Not only does it reduce frost damage, it also improves the flavour, particularly of sprouts, savoys and winter cabbage.

Brassicas do not need to be coddled in any way. They require space so that air can circulate through the leaves, in fact they will grow more happily in a field than in a garden. They are not fussy about soil, provided that it is well drained, moisture retentive, alkaline (that is limey) rather than acid and enriched with farmyard manure or compost. The ubiquitous peat is not to be recommended. A slight exception to this is the cauliflower which can be regarded as the queen of brassicas and, as befits a lady, should be treated more delicately.

Cabbages and Brussels sprouts can be dibbled into undug ground but the cauliflower is better transplanted from the seed bed, lifted with a trowel and planted with a good ball of soil. All brassicas may be sown in prepared drills in early spring; the exact time depending upon district.

Sprouts require a longer season of growth than other members of the group. They can be started early in gentle heat, sowing the seeds thinly in boxes, frames or under cloches. The worst form of plant, but the ones most likely to be bought, are those that have been sown thickly in rows in a nursery bed and just yanked up to be tied in bunches and offered for sale. Far better to raise your own plants as the worst enemy of brassicas, club root, can easily be imported.

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

Grow & Show

Grow & Show From Medwyn General Gardening Growing for Show Growing Fruit Growing Herbs Month by Month Gardening Vegetable Growing General