Bedding in summer brassicas
For those who have grown any summer brassicas from seed, the young plants will soon be ready for setting out. Seedlings of summer broccoli, kale, cabbages or calabrese will be ready for transplanting when they are about 7 cm high or more.
Plants raised in outdoor seedbeds can be moved when slightly more mature, at 10 cm to 15 cm high.
All brassicas grow best in free-draining soil, which has been enriched with a dressing of fertiliser or well- rotted compost dug into the ground. They also need full sun.
Set your young plants firmly in soil and water them thoroughly after planting. on fast- draining soils, consider mixing a little general fertiliser or pelleted poultry manure into the soil at the base of each planting hole. That will give the young plants a rapid start.
Watch for pests such as cabbage root fly. Discourage them with plant collars laid around the young plants. The collars form a ground cover immediately round each young plant, preventing the fly from laying eggs in the soil near the stem.
You can buy ready-made brassica collars from any garden supplier, or make your own. Cut discs, usually about 15cm in diameter, from roofing felt, flexible plastic or old carpet.
Each disc must have a central hole with a diagonal slit to the edge. That enables you to fit each one round a single brassica plant.