Planting Cauliflowers

Apologies if you saw nothing under this heading! The vagaries of the website chose not to show it until I updated it! Here is what should have been here!

I went down to the plot to plant my winter cauliflowers. I have had to pot on the plants I bought from the Trading Hut frames as I still had crops to harvest and lift from my Brassica tunnel. I am taking a risk planting a second crop of brassicas in the same place as I may get clubroot. However, I am using plenty of lime in each plants' hole in the hope it will prevent it.

With four different sets of 5 plants I hope it will give a succession of crops throughout the winter. In the end I managed to plant just half the plants and have two more rows to plant another day.

I did manage to sow a row of carrots. I bought a packet of stump rooted (Early Scarlet Horn) carrots half price (most shops are selling seed packets half price at the moment) so I put in a row in the hope they grow enough before it gets too cold. (Bob Flowerdew says sowing an early stump rooted carrot works if sown now.)

Something was nibbling at my sweetcorn and I had 3 cobs spoiled. I harvested 4 cobs giving two to a neighbour and taking two home. 

My outdoor cucumbers are producing, especially the pickling ones. I picked over a dozen to take home. As I was collecting them I noticed one sweetcorn plant shaking peculiarly. As I approached it a rat peered out at me as he climbed over one of the nibbled cobs. I clapped and he disappeared but I looked out my rat traps and will set them tomorrow.

I also tied up my autumn raspberries, well those cropping anyway. I should have done it months ago but a couple of ropes, one each side, will hold them up off the ground until the end of the season and I will try to do it earlier next year. The summer fruiting raspberries can be pruned back now. Remove the brown stems as they have cropped this year and tie in the green stalks to fruit next year. (I will do mine in the next week or two.) Autumn raspberries should be cut down completely later in the year.

I also lifted my Sturon onion sets planted out last autumn. Normally I leave them lying on the ground to dry out but with the current wet weather I took them home to dry in my growhouse. The wire grid shelves are great for standing them upside down with their necks poking down through the grids and the plastic cover zipped partway down. Then the sun heats them up and the air can get round them for best drying conditions. They are so wet though, I don't expect they will store well.