Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cruciferous Veggies

I knew that cabbage and broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables were prone to fungus and caterpillars and viruses. I knew that you weren't supposed to plant them year after year in the same place. So today I am [finally!!!!!] out there getting the seeds off the kitchen counter and into the raised beds the guys built for me. I am trying to convince myself that this is a "fall planting" that will work just dandy, like as if I actually planned it this way instead of procrastinating my way into this mid-July planting.

Anyway...
I thought the cruciferous veggies I was planting were kohlrabi and cabbage. I planted one 3-ft row of cabbage across one end of one raised bed, and one 3-ft row of kohlrabi at the other end. But as I'm pouring the little seeds out of the little packets, I'm thinkin' that rutabaga and turnip seeds look a whole lot like as if they're cruciferous. Sure enough, after it was all planted, I came indoors and checked, and my raised bed is full of different varieties of plants in the cabbage family, which supposedly is just beggin' for infestations and diseases. It even says not to compost the waste matter from cruciferous veggies unless you know your compost pile is hot, and mine's not. The book also says to allow 3-4 years before planting cruciferous veggies in the same place. How does that work in a home garden? Every decade you could plant cabbage once and broccoli once and turnips once? That doesn't sound right.

Well, looks like I screwed it up. Now what?

1 comment:

  1. Throw youself on the mercy of this "global climate change" that's giving us a cool summer and hope that the coolness will slow down the bugs?

    Nah, I'm not buying it either, but I had to try. My cabbages are full of holes, and I've *never* planted any crucifungerous veggies here.

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