Hi, It sure is quiet around here, on the board, and in my garden until it thawed out and began raining again. Today was nice enough to go photo how things had done as someone asks about the kale, so this is going to be pretty boring for most........but it sure is nice to get out for a break. first is a broccoli plant that survived a few days of -5 C quite well It is not a large plant but is branching nicely for sprouts. Roland loves broccoli stalk.
I'm glad the broccoli is not turning out to be a waste of space as the plants got a slow start. And then a row of kale with a sport to start that seems a throwback to a type of collard ancestor, from home seed. It did better than one kale that was exposed more to the northerly wind, half limp, that follows. The lower leaves are now gonners and just as well as this is where spots of mold endure until they are killed by a hard frost. Last year, even when the top was turned to mush by the prolonged cold weather, they grew again from the base or however far up the stalk survived. In a typical warm coastal winter they do just fine all season long.
A bit of chard, here and there. This celery plant's outer stalks turned to mush but the center is flourishing with the rains now tho I don't think it can go on for long with another cold spell anticipated next week. The choi also self seeded, actually as did the other two below, but this in late summer when the seeds were gathered.
As in all gardens, a small happenstance that interests the eye when I pass by, the sprouting leek seeds in with the young azalea about to bloom. And a leek growing from a large bulb that grew at the base of the stem over the summer, after the flower was removed. They they get bigger and can be used as a milder sort of onion or planted, as this one, for either a food plant or for allowing to remain as a flowering plant which feeds the bees and hummingbirds and then seeds, or not as one chooses. If left for seed, the bulbs stay smaller and are better for planting in fall for late winter use or in spring. When they grow in a group from missed bulbs left in the ground, I splay my fingers on the soil and pull one leek out when I want one, without disturbing the rest. And one last leaf waiting to greet the winter when it arrives this weekend. May you all winter-over very well indeed. D
Mmmmm I love LEEK but never planted one.. it that a KALE leaf with all the drops Mine was NOT happy about all the frost and still looks drary even with the outragious warm weather here for Xmas... Bravo Dana great shots Mmmm is it jaleous that I am :-)?
Yes, That's the red Russian Kale (leaf) I have grown for many years now. Perhaps we are just a little warmer here tho things bloom two weeks earlier in Spring in Vancouver. Leeks are easy enough to grow from starters for sale as bedding plants in spring or from seed sown in late June or in July so they do not flower as they will if planted earlier. I also see some arugula and mustard greens have sprouted here and there from scattered seeds, half the fun of saving seeds as things will come up where they land, making surprises here and there. D
Hi Dana, I have been reading the posts and had a couple of questions. I have grown the leeks before from starters and I do not get really nice thick leeks? A friends father showed me once what he did and his leeks were absolutely beautiful. He would take a pencil or bamboo stake and push it into the ground and put the juvenille leek into the hole and press it down? I love the arugula and it reseeds so well. I tried the wild arugula (this was the name sold by) and it was good aswell, just smaller and narrower leaves. I stopped growing the broccoli, as I always ended up with so many of the green worms in them. I tried one type and cannot remember the name. You planted it in the late summer and the broccoli was ready for harvesting in the spring. There where not supposed to be those green worms around at this time (early spring). Any thoughts would be appreciated. My cabbages are great.
Well CR, I don't see how your cabbages are ignored by the worm if they bother the broc. Funny hey? I have never had problems growing leeks over the winter. The ones I have in summer are left for flowering for seeds and hummies. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=57734 I see leek seedlings for sale early in Spring and wonder at it as mine always go to seed unless planted later than June. I think that planting them as deep as your friend does with the bamboo method would give them a nice long white bottom too, as well as keep the roots from drying out. They do like the wet weather and seem to take off in fall, sprouting up from any missed bulbs as does garlic in autumn. So, what time of year was your friend's father planting his leeks? If the flowering stalk is broken off they will develop bulbs at the base of the stem which can be eaten or planted out for a larger leek sooner than those from June seeding. I always thought the leek is a winter vegetable which also improves in flavour once frozen. Now that they are wilded into my garden I never think about doing them in any way, just making sure I see enough seedlings around in the right places and planting the bulbs where I want the biggest stalks and then flowers which are quite decorative. I thought I had planted a sprouting sort of broc but it sure has been slow compared to the purple sprouting Italian sort I have grown in the past with much success, picking it one Nov 7th and again in the Spring. I saw very many of the white cabbage butterflies this summer and fall but have seen none of the grubs ???????????? I am wondering if the crushed oyster shells that saved my beans from sow bugs would help higher up on the brocs. BT would but I would not use it in my home garden as I wouldn't want to hurt the swallowtails tho they seem not to be about at the same time; you never know who it may hurt. I have more problems with the grey aphids, if anything wants to overwhelm it is usually these on the brocs or whichever cole I grow, which is why I stick with the Red Russian as they are easier to see on this plant. Oh Yes! Yes! The children next door had and used butterfly nets last summer and could that be why my brocs were unmolested? There really were a lot of the little white ones flitting about here this summer and fall causing me to wonder. Below are 2 pics I found in my video clips recently as I find a moment here or there to organize what I saw this summer. I was worried about hummy too until I saw him this morning for the first time since the hard freeze we just had, although sometimes he announces that a birder friend is on hi way for his annual HO HO visit! Glad to see that there is someone else out there who is hard core into gardening. I'd be out there more but have another yard to get into shape right now, removing Sequoia roots and leveling a lawn a bit at a time. And interior painting. So I do miss getting out as I would like but manage to remember to take the camera in hand once in a while. One shot of the Italian too from last year's garden 07/08 broc.
Hello Dana and Charles. DANA your Brocolly are these the Aphyds or the is it a kind of purple Brocolli ? I don't know my Brocolly was like a FLOWER BOUQUET I was told to clip the flowers but always got more and more it was bending down to the floor with a carpet of yellow bloom I let it live as it wasn't ugly either. If I recall was it U or HL lady mentioned a purple Brocolli that make many small crops instead of big green ones.. Unless I find a type that gives me some to eat I will not plant it either not that I saw any worlms. My curly Kale has revived a bit but ONLY the dark purple one looks very pretty and good BUT then I was told its only decorative although it looks exact the same but I bough it end season in a nursery ( could not resist) but it does NOT grow in a rosette type like the usual decorative cabbage/kale in tight circles. Its cracy its 12C in Vancouver and the rest of USA is snowed or swamped in.. even most of the Swiss chard I cut down to the bottom of the stem but some new leaves start to grow so I will give them a chance what they MAY/CAN deliver if the winter is really more longer mild.. Somtimes I wish I did not cover my GUNERRA ( CHilean Rubarb) with mulch to protect if from freezing it MAY have survived this winter who knows. I could not take the risk I lost one last year. Ahhh I wish I had a closer Gardening friend here in my area the Chinese community gardens a lot even I speak and try to chat up people they never are respondant...I think they always thing that "GWEILO" western white gosht :-) I know I call myself that .. haha , maybe up to mischief and not only want to become a gardening friend. 3hrs from SENATE vote in USA may you be lucky and get it.... It seems so quite here now .. I have not heard a word from Hollyberry Lady etc.. but then I understand she has had some very unpleasant personally directed treatment from some in the Forum. One wonders why do we need this in a Forum we are all here to get give and echange infos and happy or sad feeling about our gardens and personal feelings also.. I hope all this stays up and running bye 4now from a super wet rainy Vancouver...
It will be what we make of it Vic. I just grow ahead and plow on.... so to speak ;)) Funny how the two instances of which you speak perhaps demonstrate why so many north Americans are 'cocooning'; lacking trust in strangers such as a gweilo! That very red kale that you mention is one I bought as an edible at my local nursery this autumn and I also bought some 'dinosaur' kale with a leaf like a spear head in shape, both new ones for me to try. Yes, that purple that you see is the smaller broccoli head of the ITALIAN PURPLE SPROUTING BROC. and is a very nice and strong plant to grow. Any brassica is possibly going to attract the white butterflies so deal with it! Fact of life. Saltwater soaking makes them let go, as even just cold water does. There must be simple traps that will attract the butterflies or predator insects available from those who sell them - a good place to start asking hey? A bug person - entomologist. Google? The aphids that 'bug' me the most are the ones that are grey, almost the same colour as the regular curly kale they favour. When they start appearing, I notice traces of sooty looking stuff they leave, and I remove any infested leaves I find placing them directly into the container I try to place under as I do this so as not to drop any aphids on the ground. Usually doing this a few times stops it from getting out of hand and they stop. Healthy plants can usually survive their visit. Soon it will be time to sow and meanwhile I am going to try a few acers and pines in one of these wet spells, into pots outside in shelter under a tree by a fence protected from the north wind. Happy Solstice, D
For anyone who wants to try overwintered broccoli or cauliflower in the Vancouver area, West Coast Seeds has at least 3 varieties that do well here: Purple Sprouting broccoli, Purple Cape cauliflower, and Aalsmeer cauliflower. I've been growing these or similar varieties for many years, and they do well most years. The exceptions result from very cold winters like last year's or hard freezes that arrive in early November, before the plants have had a chance to harden off. The broccoli and cauliflower can be harvested in late March sometimes, but usually during April, extending into May. Of course, Brussels Sprouts are excellent for harvesting all winter in our climate, starting with the growing top of the plant, which can be eaten like a large sprout.
Hi Vitog, Those cauliflowers sound interesting and I bet beautiful too. Thanks for mentioning them. Always nice to try something different and I haven't tried them overwinter before. D
so I should not have cut down my brocoli and let it stand there all winter at it may have brought something to eat ?
In a very mild winter, some normal broccoli varieties might survive and start growing again in the spring; but usually they freeze, turn to mush, and rot.
