Brassica Update

 

This year I have a fifteen foot row of brassicas planted in the in-ground garden. I used black plastic mulch and they are covered with Agribon-19 spun bond row cover to ward off pests. Biggest problem is preventing the cover from blowing off in the frequent winds we are getting this Spring. The brassicas seem to like their environment and are looking very healthy. Most remarkable is the absence of pest damage from flea beetles and cabbage caterpillars. Last Sunday I opened up the tent to do some watering and harvest some kale, so I took a few photos to give you a tour of the tent.

 

 

This the the broccoli end of the row, with two varieties. Plants are large and healthy with no signs yet of heads forming. At least they are not bolting. Both varieties are new, based on recommendations of other gardeners.

 

 

This is Arcadia, first time I have grown this variety. It is a bit later but is supposed to have large heads and abundant side shoots.

 

 

And this is Fiesta, another first for me. Daphne has grown this one with success, so I decided to give it a try. Catalog descriptions do not mention side shoot production at all, but reviews by gardeners all mention prolific side shoot production.

 

 

In the middle are four Brussels spouts, the standard Jade Cross variety I picked up at a garden center. They are looking good but who knows if I will get anything. I have had one good year, which was fantastic. Sometimes the sprouts stay small, pea size, and never size up, despite pruning and curses . Other years the sprouts tend to loosen up and become leafy, a condition supposedly caused by excessive heat. Nothing I can do about that because I can’t control the weather, but sprouts have a long development period, so here they have to be grown through the summer months. Time will tell. Gardening is all about optimism, and I am optimistic I will get some this year.

 

 

To the left are the kales. That is Tronchuda Beira or Portuguese kale with the large leaves in the foreground, which is new to me this year. Further back is Beedy’s Camden kale, a reliable and hardy Siberian kale I have grown for years. I did not photograph the dinosaur kale because it was recently clipped, so nothing to see.

Row Cover System

 

 

Up to now the garden has been free of pests. Last weekend I noticed the white cabbage moths fluttering around  the garden, so I knew I had to get protection in place soon for the brassicas. So I spent Sunday putting up the hoops and row cover to protect the row of broccoli and kale in my in-ground plot. On Monday I took a look at my turnips and radishes in the raised beds and was amazed at the flea beetle damage done in just a few days. Just a few days ago there was not a hole to be seen, now the plants are crawling with the tiny black beetles.

 

 

The Broccoli raab and Soloist Napa cabbages were doing really well and are now just pin cushions. It doesn’t pay to be a pioneer, you just wind up with arrows in your back. There are no brassicas elsewhere in the garden and no wild mustard anywhere near. When you get a hatch of hungry crucifer flea beetles and your garden has the only meal around, expect to be attacked.

 

 

 

 

Likewise, the radishes and turnips are damaged, while the kohlrabi are untouched The trouble I have is they are small plants that get put here and there in the garden and it is difficult to come up with a system to protect them. These were sprayed heavily with Spinosad on Monday to hopefully knock down the population. Spinosad is effective against flea beetles but is not yet licensed for them. I will alternate the Spinosad with a pyrethrin spray. Both are approved for organic gardens.

 

 

For the in-ground plot, I am organizing it by row. The row in the back is the large-rooted brassicas, specifically broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts. I used black plastic mulch to minimize watering and inhibit weeds. Since these plants do not have to flower (in fact, we do not want them to flower), they can remain covered. The hoops you see are 10-foot (3 m) sections of inexpensive 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) plastic electrical conduit, pressed into the soil and bent over. The material is PVC, which is not ideal, but at least it is marked to be UV-resistant. You could use PEX water tubing, but it is not UV-resistant and rapidly breaks down when exposed to sunlight.

 

 

The key to this system is the availability of 10-foot wide (3 m.) fabric. I used Agribon 19 which I sourced from Johnnny’s Seed. I bought  the 250 foot roll so it should last me a while. The trick was to get the fabric over the hoops. Of course, as soon as I was ready to raise it over the hoops, a breeze started blowing. I had to have another gardener help me and I had to use large binder clips to hold it in place. So far it has held up to the usual windy conditions we get in the spring and the brassicas underneath are bug free (although they got sprayed with the Spinosad just in case). It’s necessary to seal the edges because the flea beetles are fully capable of getting underneath. Hopefully this will keep the plants beetle and caterpillar free this summer.