Louder Than Bombs

One of our cabbages actually exploded. Hold on a bit, this is still settling in.



Okay, I'm better.

So I lifted the row cover earlier today to check on things in brassica land and as you can see, one of our cabbages literally burst at the seams. At first I thought an animal got in there and had themselves a picnic, but upon closer inspection I could see that there were no chew marks and both sides of the split matched up like you could almost squeeze it back together (kind of like continental drift, but without South America and Africa spooning).

We're guessing that it had to do something with the amount of water it's been receiving, but we're really not sure. Either way, we ate it and it was delicious.

Battle for the brassicas

Last year everyone of our brassicas was molested to ruin by a flock of cabbage moths and their demon worm spawn. This year we installed some spun forcefields (just say no to chemicals) and victory is ours. We just harvested our first head of broccoli and it was effing delicious.

Stay away bugs

Last year the cabbage worms made a mess of our brassicas. This year we made row covers. Since the brassica family produces without the assistance of pollinators, it is safe to keep them covered with a material that will only let in light, wind, and rain. We're using agribon.



The construction couldn't have been easier. We purchased one-foot sections of rebar and hammered them in around the perimeter of the beds in question. We left about three inches or so poking out and these little nubs then acted as anchors for the eventual ribbing for the structure.



The ribs are eight and ten foot lengths of recycled 3/4 inch PVC. Each end of the PVC slips over the rebar forming a frame that looks similar to that of an old covered wagon.



We couldn't find agribon wide enough to span the width of the beds with the ribs so we fastened two lengths together with clothes pins. After draping them over the ribs we weighed down the edges with strategically placed rocks. The whole shebang cost about $25. All that's left to do is keep our fingers crossed that no other mysterious pests materialize.

The Cover Up

The brassicas are officially on their way. The cloches did absolute wonders for the indoors to outdoors transition. I swear they doubled in size. We hung up the cloches, which are in great shape, and will utilize them again with the squash, peppers, and tomatoes.

The row covers are in place. We're not sure if we'll make frames or just leave them directly draped. I think it will be determined by the amount of time we have down the road. I'm sure either way will be fine and any decision we make will not make too big of an impact on the health of the plants.

Brassicas and Homemade Cloches

Our brassicas have found their way into the garden. In the bed at the top of the photo we have six broccoli and six white cabbage and in the bed at the lower portion of the photo we have six Brussels sprouts and six red cabbages. We grouped them together like this for both protection and production purposes. If we can, I think we may try to squeeze some sage in there as well. We'll see.

Last year cabbage worms destroyed our brassicas, leaving very little for us to actually harvest. This year we purchased floating row covers to keep out the moths that lay the eggs that eventually become the kraut eatin' worms. From what we've read in books and heard at the farmer's market, row covers are extremely effective. However there is one set back and that is they also keep out beneficial insects that are necessary for pollination with some plants.

Luckily brassicas don't need to be pollinated to produce the goods. We figured that if we kept all the brassica beds free of plants that need pollinating we wouldn't need to worry. ( I know, we're doing rocket science over here.) Sage is also a deterrent of cabbage moths so we may plant some of it around the edges to discourage any insect sneakiness.

Another bit or protection we are looking for is against the elements. Although we hardened our plants off, we wanted to play it safe in case there were any surprise temperature drops in the next couple of days. Since the end of last year's growing season, Meg's parents have been saving water and milk jugs for us so we could carve them into cloches.


After we finished planting and had a little lunch, I set to work with our trusty utility knife and cut the bottoms off of twenty four jugs. It is now three days later and they are doing awesome. Our average lows at night have been around 38°. We figure that by Thursday the plants should be completely hardened off and we can remove the cloches and save them for our tomatoes and peppers.

Purple Cabbage

Hello, beautiful.

We're going to eat you.