Kitchen Garden Forum

Help can anyone tell me how to recognize sprouts from cabbages, when I transplanted them I ran out of labels, I labeled one tray of each but with moving them about the rest got mixed up, looking at the leaves they don't look any different from each other.

Bren

Hi Bren, they do look very similar as seedlings, I don't think I could tell the difference. Maybe their growth might give a clue as sprouts do grow taller.

When they get a couple of true leaves the stems of the sprouts starts extending with more leaves spacing out up the stem, so if you wait a week or so you should be able to tell one from the other.

I know exactly what you mean, Bren. We planted a selection of over-wintering cabbage/sprouting broc/spring greens/caulis and they all looked pretty much the same. In fact what I thought was spring greens turns out to be a cauli, one of the best we have ever grown! Planted last October, covered in snow in freezing ground for 3 weeks in December, not watered during the spring dry spell and still we get a lovely cauli. I

To me this cauli flower epitomises the resilience of nature and what a rich reward we all gain from growing our own veg.

Aren't we lucky?!

Thanks Nature's babe, Plumpudding and Daveswife for your help I think that I have sorted them out now but I won't be surprised if a few are not what I thought they should be.

The annoying part is I found a box full of labels later some cleaned used ones and a lot of new ones, as my daughter says I put things in such a safe place I can't find them when I need them .
Bren

I'm always doing that, Bren. Even when sowing, if I am sowing half the tray with Broccoli and the other half with cabbage, I inadvertantly turn the tray round and then I can't remember which end was which.