Sprouts

[JoeCocker]

My target this year was to have sprouts grown by myself for christmas dinner, unfortunatley they hadn't firmed up at all, and were more like little cabbages than sprouts, where did i go wrong?

[JoeCocker]

[phlips66]

thiscould have been due to the fact they were not in the ground firm enough, perhaps due to the wind rocking them about and this may cause them to look like mini cabbages,it is called blowing,they are still edible,
if you are on a windy site next time try staking you sprout plants once they start getting to a desent size
     good luck sprout growing

[JoeCocker]

Thanks, the site is not windy, one or two of the sprouts were ok, but the rest were just small clusters of leaves

[BarriedaleNick]

Did you give em a good feed.  Mainly blown sprouts are caused by loose infertile soil.  You need a good firm soil as the will tend to blow about and this will damage the roots and prevent uptake of nutrients.  The general remedy is a good nitrogen feed and to remove the blown ones...

[JoeCocker]

Thanks, no i didn't feed them and grew them in my raised beds in green compost, may try a different soil this year for them.

[Tee Gee]

I have grown sprouts for more years than I care to remember and I find that 'variety' seems to play a large part in the end result, and I have tried many varieties and still do.

At the moment my banker is Maximus and I grow another couple of varieties along sides to compare.

What I would suggest is check with other plot holders in your area what varieties they grow and what is there success like!

Regarding how to grow them!!

Well the jury is out on that one I'm afraid :-X

Some like to firm them in, I don't, but as I always say; there is no wrong way to garden but there are better ways!

Finding these ways is the difficult part its taken me around forty years and I am still not sure if I have got it right.....but then the 'not knowing' is part of  the pleasure I get from gardening.

As I see it; if it does what it says on the packet then thats no great achievement as this is what it was supposed to do but if you get better...............thats real pleasure!

ps;

Forgot to mention I find soil preparation more important than feeding, I only feed at planting out time and thats all they get!

I think in terms of 0ver eating (feeding) leads to obesity (blowing)

Treat them lean and mean is my my motto (plus it is cheaper and less labour intensive)

[JoeCocker]

Thank you Tee Gee , i'll give that variety a try, i must admit this years were only a packet from Morrisons!