[jambop]

I was at the market yesterday and bought some bare rooted cauliflower plants. Lovely big plants and intended planting today however it rained all day and night and my ground is very wet and is a bit like putty I want to incorporate some manure into the soil before I plant the cauli's how long is it reasonable to keep these plants before planting out? I think the ground would be workable in two days but if they have to go in pronto I will just do without the manure and plant them.

[3759allen]

we used to plant bare root on one of the farms i used to work on (very old school). they used to keep them over night to be planted the next morning, they did look a bit sorry for themselves, but gave very good crop.

i would say put them in a jam jar of water and keep somewhere out of full sun but frost protected for up to a week or so. put a big enough bunch so it fills the jam jar so the whole plants don't sink into the water.

prob do them a favour from a soak before they go in.

[mumofstig]

Brassicas grown in soil and dug up for sale can import clubroot to your plot 

[jambop]

Don't take this the wrong way but the people who grow these vegs are pro's and if they did something like that they would be out of business pronto the French gardener is very fussy about such things!
Anyway I have potted them up ! the ground was even more wetter than I thought so I have spread the dung I will rotavat it in within the next ten days then plant I will keep the plants in a shady spot and water them as need ed that should allow them to set roots in the mean time?

[Totty]

More of a mistake in adding manure to the soil immediately before planting with brassicas IMO.

Totty

[3759allen]

using bare root brassicas used to be very common commercial practice before buying plants in modules, can't see the problem if they have come from professional growers.

do you mind me asking why adding manure to the soil before planting is a bad thing, assuming it is well rotted what harm would it do?

[jambop]

Adding well rotted manure will do noting but good for brassicas they need good feeding and also down here the extra organic matter helps retain moisture around the plants when it gets very hot. I really need to get more manure into the garden to be honest it has a quite heavy soil which is really great when the moisture content is just right but when dry goes like concrete and when wet does not drain well. I think / hope that adding manure to the soil will help the soil condition and the good news is I can get as much as I need delivered for free... which is nice

Gardening in France is not as simple for some crops as you might think the weather can get too hot and dry but if growing purely summer vegs are your thing then I don't know if you could find a better climate than the area I am in. Yes it gets hot but there is always the odd thunder storm to provide a respite and some more water to reclaim for later watering.

[mumofstig]

We didn't know you lived in France til you reminded us!
Can you please put it in your profile so we know each time you post, or there will be further confusion.

[Totty]

Extra organic matter will do all crops the world of good if the soil is not in great shape.
But that should have been done ages ago to be honest.
If you add a rich nitrogen feed to sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers etc, the mass of soft leafy growth can lead to blown sprout, cabbages that are not nice and tight, and cauliflowers that have loose curds.
Rotavating the plot immediately prior to planting will lead to loose ground that will also lead to the above.
Firm, undug ground, that was heavily manured for a previous crop of potatoes for example would be perfect.

Totty

[3759allen]

good info. i manured just before Christmas so hopefully long enough ago. nice to have a theory behind the advice, does make sense now.

notes mad for future years. thanks

[jambop]

Not going to totally disagree with you totty but farm yard manure is NOT high in nitrogen it is less than 0.5% on average, my ground with a shower of rain is compacted so much so that I bought a rotavator I am not putting my self in an early box breaking my back on a veg plot! I will let you know how things turn out nut that is how they are going in!