OVERWINTERING SPRING BRASSICAS

[Compo]

I have some fairly small brassicas, january king, spring cauli's and the like, is it worth giving them a break and putting them under some enviromesh / scaffolding net? I am wondering if day after day of freezing temperatures will see them off, or should I just leave them exposed, they do not look damaged by days and days of frost, but wondered if protecting them a bit could give them a boos. We have not had much snow nor is it forecast in my low lying part of Somerset, but the freezing temperatures have been persistent?

Thoughts Please

CoMpO

[Nature's Babe]

Compo I think it might be worth the extra effort, last year I left mine out in the snow and they were very slow developing and didn't do so well, this year I am planting later in modules to plant out early. i lost autumn planted broad beans too last year as the weight of snow collapsed over them, (plastic hoops ) this year they are doing ok under a metal frame environmesh tent.

[Colin_M]

...this year they are doing ok under a metal frame environmesh tent.

Interesting, so are most of mine. I was wondering if it was a good idea to leave Enviromesh out over winter, for example if it got brittle in the low temperatures. Any thoughts on this?

The other thing I'd suggest to Compo is that if your brassicas survive the cold & frost, there may well be a troop of hungry pigeons queueing up to peck them to death in the Spring. Your netting/protection may come in useful for that too.

[Monika]

I left the environmesh over our spring cabbages, supported by very stout poles, but, after the first heavy snowfall, found that it had almost collapsed onto the cabbages under the weight of the snow. I took off the snow but since then it's snowed again and the same thing happened. The plants also look very sorry for themselves in the low temperatures (minus 12 twice so far), so I am leaving things as they are and hoping for the best.

Could you not given them some more solid protection, Compo, like a cloche? That might keep put the cold better than mesh.

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Monika, my environmesh tent is an upside down V so the snow tends to drift down it rather than weigh it down. I do have some strong plastic cloches but they are covering early peas.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've just had a walk round the garden now the plants have appeared above the remains of the snow, and find that the ones that were just squashed by the snow are in better nick than those that were flattened by 2 ft of snow on top of enviromesh or fleece.

The snow falling on and round the plants holds them up rather than a huge weight settling on top of the fleece and pressing down on them.

[Compo]

What I did in the end was to put two of my largest cold frames over about twelve of the plants, I still have another 16-18 to protect, so at the weekend i will cover half with some enviromesh and leave the rest, it will be interesting to see which fare the better, given that there is more bad weather on the way

CoMpO