cabbage

Broccoli: both crops were good, better color than last year
Brussels Sprouts: did better than last year, early sprouts hit with some sort of slime, later sprouts were great, some aphids in crowns at end of season
Cabbages: green variety did well (even in bed after spring broccoli), savoy variety needed a few more weeks, red variety was slow & small
Cauliflower: seedlings eaten by bunnies, reseeded & those that survived did great (were not transplanted), Snow Crown slightly earlier (and more purple) than Denali
Kohlrabi: both varieties did well, but should have been planted a week or two earlier

General: buy more shade cloth to cover late-season broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower transplants
Broccoli: best early crop ever, late crop did great too (especially single plant left in nursery bed) – leave more seedlings in nursery bed next year?
Brussels Sprouts: both varieties strong (see journal post), but hit with cabbage worms and aphids
Cabbages: early crop slower & stunted w/bad cabbage worms, late crop did well, but some savoy didn’t mature – try row cover in spring? transplant savoy earlier in fall?
Cauliflower:  good varieties, but small & late (needs more time than broccoli & standard cabbage) – transplant on 1st week into potato bed next year, leave some seedlings in nursery bed? start in pots?

Arugula: hedge planting worked well, planting schedule good – try starting 2nd planting 2 weeks earlier
Bok Choi: best ever, timing & variety good, second planting transplants into open spaces did great
Collards: did well – try one fewer row (for an extra row of Swiss Chard)
Cress: good crop, late planting did well – rotate with mustard next year
Kales: aphids & cabbage worms late in season for both types, curly type germination slow – find dinosaur type with larger leaves? find earlier curly variety?
Malabar Spinach: some seedling problems (due to transplanting and/or watering?), beautiful on entry arbor
Lettuce: most varieties did well, poor germination on (heirloom) Tennis Ball – find new green variety? try new red variety?
Mustard: good crop, late planting did well – rotate with cress next year
Spinach: early crop produced, but hit with aphids, fall crop had bad germination & stunted plants – try under row cover in spring, give up on fall crop?
Swiss Chard: row cover made a big difference (especially with drought) – plant an extra row next year (less collards) – reorder rows to stage height of bed?

We planted two varieties of brussels sprouts this season: Churchill left-over from last season and a new variety Octia which we selected, in part based on a review of brussels sprouts from UNH cooperative extension. As recommended by that review, we topped both varieties to encourage a higher yield.

The mature plants were relatively easy to distinguish because Churchill has a redish tint to the stalks and leaf stems (lower left) while the Octia were pale green (upper right). 

Another difference was the time to maturity.  A few Octia sprouts were large enough to start harvesting in mid-September, while the Churchill sprouts were still very small.  Now, in mid-October, both varieties have some harvestable sprouts, but the Octia has a much larger quantity of mature sprouts ranging from medium sized to very large.  Churchill sprouts are small to medium.  The picture below contrasts the number of Octia (left) versus Churchill (right) sprouts harvested on October 7th.  Octia produced 4-5 times more sprouts than Churchill and some of them were very large. 

One issue that we noticed with Octia at the start of the harvest was that the outer leaves of some sprouts were damaged (dead or possibly mildew?) and stunted growth.  It was a small portion of the sprouts, but those affected by the damage were still edible after removing the outer leaves.

Some of the Churchill sprouts also had an odd elongated pine-cone shape to them instead of a more compact cabbage shape, but they still taste fine and mature to a medium size.

Overall, the Octia seems to be a good variety and is much more productive than Churchill; however, a portion of the sprouts were damaged and remained small.  Another consideration for future brussels sprouts varieties in the garden is that the Churchill variety was not offered by Burpee or Johnny's  Seeds for the 2016 season, so it is not clear whether Churchill will be available for next season.

On another note, we have been very fortunate to have very few aphids on either variety of brussels sprouts this year! Aphids were one of the major challenges we faced with the brussels sprouts in the past two years. 

Saturday was our first seedling session of the season. Sheltered from the cold, we planted seeds for our early broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, leeks, lettuce, onions, shallots and spinach. And there's much more to come!

All late season seedlings stressed by hot weather after transplanting & needed more shade cloth than we had

Broccoli: early crop: yield okay but discolored again; late crop: wonderful, produced some side shoots by end of season

Brussels Sprouts: grew well, spacing good, sprouts smaller than usual, plant on shady side of bed next year, keep up with the aphids!

Cabbage: early season: green did great, red good, though inconsistent & slower. Late season: did well though some in shade of Brussels sprouts, savoy variety – perfect

Cauliflower: white heads were smaller than we would like, purple heads were tiny and many never matured – try a specialty variety with fewer days to harvest