[raydee]

Hi all, like others I'm new to the allotment scene having acquired my allotment in Oct this year, it was in a bit of a state but I have now got it dug and I'm ready for the new season, can't wait. I had thought about getting a polytunnel but could not workout what to grow in it, as I already have a greenhouse for growing vegetables etc from seed and growing tomatoes and cucumbers. So I have decided to buy a cage with butterfly netting instead, so that I can grow Brassica's. I had thought of growing the usual Cabbage (various) cauliflower, and Brussell sprouts. But I have now read that you should not grow different brassica's together, I guess for the possibility of cross contamination, club root, white fly etc. That rather limits what to grow in a netted cage, so I'm beginning to wonder what's the point of paying out for a cage just to grow one type of Brassica. it seems I would be better off planting the various brassica's in different parts of the allotment. I would be interested to hear from other allotment holders to see what they do.

[Offwego]

Hi,

We grow mixed brassicas in our cage together with soft fruits and have no issues, in fact we are very pleased with the set up.

[Potterer]

Hi Raydee. Not sure about the advice not to grow brassicas together- I always do! That said, a lot of them take up space so you won’t have room in a usual size cage for many different types. Certainly you should aim to grow them in a different place each year to prevent build up of pests and diseases.

Have you thought of making your own cages using the blue water piping that you can get from builders merchants (or discarded in skips!) and either scaffold netting or enviromesh to put over it? If you want to grow Brussels or purple sprouting broccoli you will need a tall cage, less so for cauliflowers or cabbages). This allows a lot of flexibility in where you put them each year. Good luck with your Lottie.

[Dev]

I agree with Potterer - a fixed cage could prove awkward if you want to practice some form of crop rotation in the future. water pipe and netting allows you to grow in different parts of your plot each year, although I think the old idea of splitting your plot into equal portions and then rotating is pretty useless when you take in to account what your family wants to eat. Best of luck with your new plot though.

[rowlandwells]

we tend to grow brassicas in raised beds and separate each variety because of the reasons already said and yes all the raised beds are covered with enviromesh and blue water pipe  hoops never had any probs with white butterflies but had a few slugs visiting

[snowdrops]

I’ve not heard of not growing brassicas together before. I grow mine in an old adapted frame tent with debris nett8ng covering it, although this year I’m considering fine environmesh to deter the whitefly. I side of the ‘tent ‘ is higher than the other so I position the sprouts & broccoli down that side & intersperse with cabbages,cauliflowers etc I don’t want huge crops of those so plant closer together. I also plant through weed membrane to cut down on the weeding . I move it every year to fit in with my crop rotation. Just picked sprouts & sprouting broccoli today. First decent sprouts I’ve managed on this site since I took it on 12 years ago, but I really stomped on the ground & hammered the plants in last year to stop them ‘blowing’

[Christine]

One word of advice. I grew brassicas in a very large bed on a new allotment last year. Club root is a disease you find in the soil and won't know about till you have problems like I did when only the kale was tolerant of it. I had a major brassica failure. It was the roots that were the problem not growing them together.

[jaydig]

I would agree with Christine about pockets of club root on the plot. I planted all of my brassicas in two cages on a piece of the plot I hadn't used for brassicas before, and lost the lot to club root.  It is probably better to have one or two areas to grow them in and if there are problems with club root mark it on your plot plan so those places can be avoided in future.  I would still lime the soil if necessary, and, as a belt and braces, choose to grow club root resistant varieties where possible.

[DD.]

I would agree with Christine about pockets of club root on the plot. I planted all of my brassicas in two cages on a piece of the plot I hadn't used for brassicas before, and lost the lot to club root.  It is probably better to have one or two areas to grow them in and if there are problems with club root mark it on your plot plan so those places can be avoided in future.  I would still lime the soil if necessary, and, as a belt and braces, choose to grow club root resistant varieties where possible.

And also grow your plants away from the plot and take them down at a decent size with a good root ball.

[sunshineband]

In terms of organisation, we use a tall cage for PSB and sprouts, made of canes and cable ties and debris netting. Others are enviromesh over blue hoops for cabbages, kale, cauliflowers and calabrese as these are not so tall.

Never had a problem with them by growing them alongside each other. I now use mainly club root resistant varieties, and also follow DD's advice about growing sturdy plants before planting them out. Great season last year and PSB still to come