These are "bare root transplants" , many brassica love to be grown in this way, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, purple sprouting broccoli etc. Sown into a prepared soil seed bed most often in the spring. Very few brassicas are grown in this way on large veg farms mostly now sown into modular trays in large sterile glass houses using compost containing peat, then to be transported sometimes hundreds of miles to their destination by lorry. Brassica plants like the cabbages in this photo at Shillingford Organics are all sown into soil in a field being a far more sustainable way to produce them. At around 6-8 weeks old they will be pulled up, thier leaves snipped off to reduce water loss and left bunched together for 5-7 days keeping them moist before transplanting them. In these few days the roots regrow their fine white root hairs. These plants will have grown into good strong, pencil like plants with long roots that when planted deep into moisture with their new root hairs developed will immediatly grow away happily. Brassicas seem to love to be transplanted. Having been sown into a fertile soil using green manures such as grass, clovers, rye cereals etc. This soil will contain millions of micro organisms which break down this organic matter and convert this into the very nutrients plants require to grow naturely & healthy, being sown into soil already have built an immunity to pest & disease so will be a more resiliant plant able to withstand attack & extremes of temperature & weather. Much of the countrys purple sprouting broccoli were destroyed by the severe freezing temperatures of last winter causing a shortage of the crop, these plants would have been raised in glass houses and planted shallowly. Shillingfords’ brassica crops all survived & flourished I think due to the way they were grown, planted deep & were more resiliant to extemes of conditions.
Posted by jimmygod on 2011-07-09 06:01:08
Tagged: