Kitchen Garden Forum

Is it just the seed companies getting rich!

the price and quality of supermarket veg has made me quite picky as to what ill devote space and time to. especially on winter harvested veg.

Just planted out some Leeks I grew from seed, might be a tad early but the roots are coming out the bottom of their pots.

There is nothing like the sight of cauliflowers growing in a row with the whit a heads pushing through the green leaves we had some crackers last year this year was rubbish

Tigerburnie, our leeks (Musselburgh and Oarsman) seem to be very slow this year. Did you bring yours on in the greenhouse? Ours are now in pots under fleece but they seem to just standing still - perhaps it's the change to very much cooler weather? They are just like little grassy stalks.

Bad year for leeks for me - lot's of failed sowings from new seed, but have about 20 or so in the greenhouse in a pot but they seem stagnant at the moment. Hopefully Lottie shop will save me with some plants. Cauliflowers to date have been successful even though I have clubroot on the plots & don't always grow the resistant varieties - but I do plant them out bigger than I would normally do. However this year I have bought a clubroot resistant seed varieties so will see.

I've got hundreds of Leeks,some still in groups in modules that started in the conservatory on boxing day in a heated propagator, some were then potted on into 3 inch pots, these are the first I've put outside. I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow.

Your Leeks are Poor or Slow !!!!

I Haven't even sown them yet !!

Put stump killer in the Field Maple that's annoying the gate, mowed main track and cleaned out my greenhouse 12' x 8'.
Dug over the greenhouse border, added the half used bag of GP compost that'd been sat on the floor since last year and connected up my irrigation pipes and left them running.

Upset a plot holder, though why he thought he could put his new shed up on the path I cannot fathom. It's now, amicably, where it should be, on his plot but the dug in base he made now needs removing and reinstating as grass rather than slabs.

Sounds like a land grab Peter.

Afore mentioned Leeks



I keep some for replacements and some for swaps

Just returned from a visit to NT property Polesden Lacey (where George VI and his wife spent their honeymoon), and I was staggered by the display of produce, especially lettuces, under cold frames, in the vegetable garden. The Little Gem types were like small cauliflowers and the Lobjoits Cos type were the size of cabbages! Leeks were 12" high! I can never get my veg this advanced by April, though they do have a huge, presumably heated, greenhouse. The only bloke I found to ask hadn't a clue!

I think they have to sign the 'Official Secrets Act' when they work at the NT JohnN. He probably knew but if he he told you would have to confiscate your land for the Trust!

While on this subject of open gardens, i have just been thinking....i have been to a lot of gardens over the years, and always try and have a chat with the garden staff, but very few spring to mind where the gardeners really want to talk even briefly, let alone share any of their knowledge of the garden. Although i did go to a garden in Shropshire last year and the Lady gardener there was very nice and gave a wonderful history to the garden.....and that was despite the garden being well under staffed. The name of the garden won't come to mind at the moment, but the gardener was called Emma....

I've always struggled to grow cauliflowers in my veg plot and never really understood exactly why when other greens like kale, purple sprouting broccoli and Swiss chard have thrived. I'm having one last attempt this year. I normally get a miserable little head which then bursts into flower. I've always had a suspicion that they probably tend to thrive on heavier clay soils than the stony soil we have here but don't know whether this is true.

Do we have any successful cauliflower growers on our forum?. What's your soil like, and do you have any hints?