CABBAGES -- NITROGEN -- LIME -- CALCIFIED SEAWEED 2 -- LUPINS -- COMPANION PLANTING -- PEAS -- BEANS: 1 December 2002
GC comments: "Using your manual, unable to find an entry dealing with cabbages. Why do you not deal with this subject?"
The message arrived on my desk, so, before copying it to the head gardener for his comments, I e-mailed back:
"R J Harris is out of touch this evening, playing Santa Claus at a children's party -- a chore he undertakes every Christmas in his part of Cornwall. So, since I cannot reach him immediately, may I -- as publisher -- comment on his behalf in response to your e-mail?
"Cabbages. There was a big debate about this when the manual was being planned. In the end, we had to accept that with the 256 pages already overflowing at that time, much would have to be held over for inclusion in the next manual. Among this large amount of subject matter was the cabbage family and a wide range of salad crops. Also, tomatoes had to be omitted, all ten sub-sections of it. R J Harris is a tomato enthusiast.
"I am sorry about the current manual's lack, so far as you are concerned. As a failed cabbage grower (and believer in the cabbage's nutritional as well as flavour values), I would have liked to see it included.
"For the moment, let me suggest a close look at the MOON and ROTATION sections of the manual.
"ROTATION describes where the head gardener includes the cabbage family in his annual rotation system. MOON dots in the moon time to sow or to plant out the above-the-ground developers, of which the cabbage is one.
"Also, I suggest, try ONION/2 and, generally, follow the bed preparation guidance that is given in this for when getting ready to insert cabbage plantlets and to manage their bed.
"These suggestions are not as helpful as having a self-contained CABBAGE section, I must acknowledge, but I hope they help.
"I shall file your e-mail and hold it against the day when manual number two is planned. It will strengthen my arguments in favour of a CABBAGE section -- one that is as detailed and comprehensive as the sections of the current manual.
"I am copying this e-mail to R J Harris, so that he can put us both right if he feels that my suggestions fail at any point."
R J Harris responded to the copied e-mail and, as I expected, improved on my suggestions. I was able, then, to e-mail the following to GC
1) cabbages love nitrogen. So, be sure to insert cabbage plantlets into Mr Harris's BED/3 after peas and beans have been cleared. This is not to say wait until all of the peas and beans have come to an end. Rather, put in young cabbages where early-cleared peas and beans have been taken out, leaving their roots in the ground (and with them, nitrogen deposits)
2) cabbages love lime. So, dress the surface where the plantlets are to be inserted with one or two ounces (see pH reference in the next paragraph) of garden lime to the square yard (or whatever is the metric equivalent of those imperial measures). Add the lime in October or November. This is when the ground has been spaded over and left in the very, very rough, pre-Winter state that Mr Harris advocates. Allow the additive to over-Winter. Better: use calcified seaweed if you can get it. It contains the trace elements (i e, vitamins and minerals) that lime does not contain, which is better for the plants.
The head gardener suggests: read pH in the manual -- it's a very short section -- and then use a pH testing kit on the cabbage-bed-to-be before applying either lime or calcified seaweed. This is to make sure that the additive is required. A reading of 6.5 to 7 tells you that nothing need be added. A reading of below that -- 5, say -- says that the lime/seaweed is required. Do not be worried by planting peas and/or beans before inserting the cabbage plantlets. The additive will not adversely affect the peas and the beans. And the lime/calcified seaweed will be in the ground, still, when you insert the cabbage plantlets after the peas and beans have been cleared away. In any event, brassicas and legumes are companion plants -- ie, they support each other in the struggle to survive and to prosper
3) companion planting. Lupins get on very well with cabbages (and vice versa). They make nitrogen for the cabbages to borrow. So, sow a few lupin seeds among the cabbage plantlets; both thrive equally well in the BED/3 conditions. Visually, too, the result is very satisfying.
In connection with this, the book stockists' page of this site is worth a visit (see link at the foot of the page). Click on the first of the row of pictures that runs down the lefthand side of the screen. This produces an enlarged version of the picture and some related text. The picture shows, among other features, a typical R J Harris cabbage/lupin/Brompton Stock development. It is to Mr Harris's right, and is clearly a companion-planted cabbage bed.
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