Has anyone experience of growing cauliflower and/or sprouting broccoli in a polytunnel? I have a few plug plants growing in there at the moment and wonder if I should leave them to mature or plant them out in the garden in the autumn. As they are cold weather crops I wonder if they would do better outside.
Columbine
Cauliflower & sprouting broccoli in polytunnel
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ive not tried either in the tunnel , but would expect both to dislike the summer heat. the only brassicas i grow inside are greyhound and primo cabbages both in spring and in autumn. the stumps of the autumn ones get left over winter and produce a crop of spring greens early in the year.
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FelixLeiter
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Brassicas mostly don't like too much heat, so they're only any good in a tunnel through the winter and into early spring, usually from an autumn sowing. They tend to be a magnet for pests in a tunnel, too, much more so than when grown outdoors. Cauliflowers and their ilk require huge quantities of water at the best of times for a quality crop, and under plastic even more so. Nevertheless, I did once grow a decent crop of calabrese from an summer sowing, for harvesting in autumn.
Allotment, but little achieved.
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FelixLeiter
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columbine wrote:I'll move them outside in the autumn and keep my fingers crossed.
I'd move them out now. If you've planted them out in your tunnel then they'll be too well established by autumn to move satisfactorily. If they are still plug plants then they'll be too stunted by then to give a good account of themselves.
Allotment, but little achieved.
Terribly glad that I read this just after planting broccoli in the tunnel!
I grew 10 seedlings of (I think and I can't so far find the remains of the packet) Autumn Sprouting Broccoli from T&M. Just to try it out, I planted half in the tunnel and half outside. Outside we have already had lots of stems, rather like very prolific purple sprouting. Inside I have just cut the most perfect single head, about 5" across and there are more to come. I've left the stumps for further sprouting, with luck. Not a sign of a bug or a slug even.
Now I know that it's been cool and wet ever since they went in and I know that the bugs probably haven't found the tunnel yet, though I've seen plenty of white butterflies and there are plenty of slugs about. And I know all about beginners' luck. But so many things in the garden don't come up to scratch that I thought I would share one that is beyond any expectations!
I grew 10 seedlings of (I think and I can't so far find the remains of the packet) Autumn Sprouting Broccoli from T&M. Just to try it out, I planted half in the tunnel and half outside. Outside we have already had lots of stems, rather like very prolific purple sprouting. Inside I have just cut the most perfect single head, about 5" across and there are more to come. I've left the stumps for further sprouting, with luck. Not a sign of a bug or a slug even.
Now I know that it's been cool and wet ever since they went in and I know that the bugs probably haven't found the tunnel yet, though I've seen plenty of white butterflies and there are plenty of slugs about. And I know all about beginners' luck. But so many things in the garden don't come up to scratch that I thought I would share one that is beyond any expectations!