Allotments 4 All

Had a good mooch round my plot today to do some weeding (they always seem to grow faster than anything else in the rain!) and take stock

To minimise my chances of brussels sprouts blowing I planted them in the hardest ground on my plot and they were doing great... but since the rain they have all come loose and the earth is loose round the base.

Does anyone think it would help for them to be supported with a cane at this stage? I know that the most important thing is for them to be in hard ground and grow steady but the rain has been the undoing of them and I don't want to lose any sprouts that may come.

What dya think?

The same with my purple sprouting broccoli which is also all leaning in waterlogged earth, not sure whether planting supports near these plants will help anymore than a couple of weeks of dry weather will.
Thanks for any advice Lin

Give it a few weeks and the ground will be dry and hard packed again, but I don't suppose it would hurt to stamp around them. Even if they are leaning they will grow straight up again.  Kinky!

I use canes &/or wire rods, but they have to go deep in.

Give them time, the soil will settle. I always get them ending up at all sorts of odd angles, but if you want them vertical, stake them.

If they do fall over, it makes wading between them quite tricky.

Thanks for the advice, went over yesterday and staked a couple and stamped around on the ground ... sort of sinking in and having to pull wellies out after!! Grrr! And today it has rained non stop all day.

Still my courgettes are loving every minute, I must pick about 5 or 6 a day!!

Tomorrow is forecast dry here in Manchester, so lets hope they're right and rain starts again on Sunday.... for 40 days and nights!!
Lin

I have got so fed up with blown, tilted and fleabitten sprouts that this year I have gone over the top.

The raised bed has a frame over it that can be tilted up for access and each plant is staked - no more caterpillar or bird damage.

How come that farmers can grow whole fields of them, they cannot possibly stake them or go around stamping them in?



Is there another urban myth in the making?

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_Myths.html