[rowlandwells]

there are several varieties of swede to grow I'm trying Brora this season as its a new variety to me has anyone been growing this variety what do you favour as a good swede variety to grow

my Dad always said you don't sow swede seed till the end of may? also how do you sow your swede seed do you make a drill and sow then thin swede plants out that's the old way may gardeners still do it I've tried sowing in peat pots three seed per station then prick out to one plant they grew well but when it was time to plant them out I was ill and was unable to plant them out so they went on the compost heap so I'm trying the same method this season fingers crossed


any feedback on growing swede would be most welcome

[Comfreypatch]

Hi I have that variety to grow this year also gowrie and helenor. I am just going to do two or three of each as I haven’t tried any of these varieties before. I have always sown in modules then potted them up to grow a little more before planting out late June. Previously I have grown Marion and it has always done well with this method. I cover with mesh or butterfly netting because the butterflies like them. They sometimes get attacked by flea beetle that’s why I let them get bigger before planting out.

[mumofstig]

Sowing in May, but into modules (12 to a seed tray size) works for me, it gives a little flexibility on planting time compared with using the very small modules.

[rowlandwells]

that sounds a good method of sowing and planting from module sowing it sounds like your producing good swede's and I take your point about the flea beetle I seem to recall my Dad saying about this anyway thats good info that I'm going to try this season and i must remember to sow in good  tray size moduels many thanks

[Mr Dog]

Modules here too and not sown too early (before mid May) to try and keep the size of the swedes down. Usual varieties are Tweed, Marian and Wilhelmsburger (a green variety) although I've also got some Helanor seeds to try this year.

[Christine]

Helanor and Tweed work just fine at the south end of Northumberland - sown mid to late May.

[DHM]

I grew Marian last year, but didnt bother covering them. The butterflies left them alone but they were infested with these white flies that peppered the leaves with holes. The roots though grew very well indeed.

Trying Lomond this year, recommended for flavour.

[Aidy]

I just sow in a seed tray and prick them out when the first true leaves appear and sown at the start of June.

[jaydig]

Whatever variety I try, I always fail miserably.  I just can't grow a decent swede.  I get wonderful leaves, but the desired swollen root never materialises. I've tried direct sowing, growing in modules, growing early, at the right time and later than normal.  I've feed the ground, limed the ground and watered well. Still no swedes.  Every year I say "never again!", but the next year off I go again. 

[mumofstig]

Try putting a handful of Chicken manure pellets in the hole, before transplanting.

[DHM]

Last year we sowed (?) Marian swedes late in the season, dumped half a packet along an 11ft row having created a shallow furrow. Our plot is on an exposed south coast site on heavy clay. We left it quite late to thin out and tried transplanting a few to fill gaps (nb, the transplants were rubbish, just compost them!) And we ended up with 10 big swedes by Christmas. Some had split a bit, probably owing to irregular watering during the hot weather, and the leaves were decimated by whitefly because we didnt cover them but it didnt seem to affect the root growth at all. We broke off any dead foliage and picked any weeds growing around them.

Made awesome swede mash but in the main we just cut them into batons and ate them raw, dipped in hummous as a snack. The one left in the ground, by the end of the year grew to 6" across and still tasted as good.

This year we're trying Lomond, similar to Marian but is meant to have an even better flavour, if these don't do as well we'll probably go back to Marian and make them one of our plot staples.

[jaydig]

Try putting a handful of Chicken manure pellets in the hole, before transplanting.

Thanks, I'll try that this year.