Overwintered brassicas

[ottawagardener]

Winter tends to kill back the tops of my taller brassicas and isn't so kind to heads of cabbage either but the plants have a will to survive. Sorry for the slightly fuzzy photos - my camera has been acting up.

From the bottom (this is leaf broccoli):



From the middle (savoy cabbage - head eaten by me last year):



From the top (red leafed cabbages - overwintered small):



;D

[bunkie]

yum telsing! ours do the same thing!

btw, i've been meaning to tell you that we've been eating your Orach mix and your Mustard mix for a few weeks now. delish!

[ottawagardener]

Glad to hear it! Did you get a good percent of golden orach?

[bluelacedredhead]

I'm trying to stop the kale that overwintered from going to seed. I think I'm losing the battle? Will it be inedible afterwards? Or will it return to it's original glory as autumn approaches?

Oh and I saw a plant in an ornamental around the corner planted amongst hostas. It resembles orach but it's dark green with red veins. Anyone have some suggestions of what it might be? Names I can look up? I suppose I can ask the woman but I don't see her home very often.

[cortona]

bluelaced i can tel you this my black tuscan go to flower but as autumn coming back it turn to growing leaf again, not so strong as the first year but it give me a good arvest!
Emanuele

[bluelacedredhead]

Thank You Emanuele! I will leave it to grow for the summer then and await a crop in Autumn.

[ottawagardener]

If you let it go to seed, it might give you a crop of babies. Mine seems to live after seeding though it didn't make it past the first flush of spring this third year.

[bluelacedredhead]

I started a few already then realized that the two still out there were back for a second season. And when it produces seed, it really produces seed. I let it go to seed on the farm. They'll have kale plants there till the end of time, lol

[extremegardener]

Very Interesting OG - this year my tall brassicas that survived the winter (mostly Winter Red kale grex , one Couve Tronchuda, Wheeler's Imperial Cabbage, and January King) had the stems die just above ground level, yet the tops were alive. I've seen this before, but don't really understand why it happens, because I would expect that the tops would be more susceptible to cold damage since they are more apt to be exposed to colder temperatures than the lower stems (less snow insulation).
Some had already been flopped over by the snow, and the tops in contact with soil rooted. Noticing this, I flopped the others with live tops onto the soil and laid some compost over the stems at the bottom of the live areas, and they're now growing beautifully. The live tops of any that were not put in contact with the soil just dry up and die.
It had occurred to me that maybe younger growth is more tolerant of cold, but I'm not so sure now. This past winter I also trialed overwintering a slew (a slaw? ;-) of various hardy brassica oleraceas that were at a stage just beyond seedlings, sort of adolescent plants, and none survived.
For next winter I'm considering trying to lay larger b. oleraceas on their sides in November...

[raymondo]

There are some interesting experiences here. As an aside, with some brassicas producing so much seed, does anyone harvest it for winter sprouts? Just curious. I hadn't thought of it until reading this thread.

[ottawagardener]

I harvest seedlings if that's what you mean whenever they are available as part of my 'thinning.' I also harvest some flowerbuds as broccoli substitute and immature seedpods for food. Of course, I try and get seed too!

[ottawagardener]

Extreme: I think I've had that happen with a few of mine like 9 star broccoli and very old biennial kale (4 year's old, I believe). Maybe the root had died??? Rot at root level?? Anyhow, I didn't think of planting the shoots (smacks self in head). Next year.

[raymondo]

Sorryy, I meant the seed, to be used as sprouts in the kitchen over winter, like mung bean sprouts or whatever. Perhaps I'm using the wrong term. I'll try to find the appropriate one.

[ottawagardener]

No, you're right Ray! It is sprouts... I'm just half asleep most of time, I guess! I was thinking sprouted flowerbuds/heads... anyhow, I do occasionally sprout seeds in the winter for fresh greens too. Yup!

[ottawagardener]

Looks like my red rock mammoth and blush savoy are going to flower together and I'm not going to isolate them for fun and giggles. What the heck, I'm feeling like letting nature be inventive.