PLANT CABBAGES AND KALE NOW

There’s still enough warmth in the ground for cabbage and kale seedlings to establish their root systems and get some growth on before the really cold weather arrives. The soil is pleasant to work right now, being moist and friable following the summer and autumn crops. Add homemade compost at planting time and those brassicas will get off to a flying start to their winter season of growth. If you planned ahead and sowed your own cabbage and kale seed earlier in the season, and now have plenty of healthy seedlings, you’ll be thrilled with your foresight and pleased to have clubrootfree seedlings that won’t cause you grief later on, as those already-infected seedlings brought in from outside your garden would. It’s always worth taking the safe option when brassicas are involved, as clubroot is devastating to those of us who love to eat any of the brassica family. Soak seedlings in warmed water, enhanced with a little seaweed tea, before transplanting them into the open air beds they’ll grow in over the next few months. White butterflies won’t bother them – here in the South anyway – thanks to the cooler temperatures. This column is adapted from the weekly e-zine, get growing, from New Zealand Gardener magazine. For gardening advice delivered to your inbox every Friday, sign up for Get Growing at: getgrowing.co.nz better when grown under the cover of plastic, so long as you are watchful for insect and fungal harm.