[mushroom]

hi,

my cabbages don't appear to be hearting :cry:  What to do? What causes this?

Here are the cabbages

[WG.]

Which variety please?  They are very crowded.

[mushroom]

I dunno the variety - they were given to me. Does crowding cause them not to heart? They were planted about a foot apart. The leaves have grown really well.

[muntjac]

quick fix... put some sulphate of ammonia on em now .teaspoon fer plant and water it in ... then they will go nuts . cut the big outer leaves for now  

[muntjac]

plant em 18 inch minimum next year  

[mushroom]

cheers for the tip Munty, I'll do that later today. Raining now, 12C.

[WG.]

A foot is the bare minimum even for spring greens.  I'd give spring greens 16" apart, summer cabbage / winter cabbage / savoy / jan king 30" or more, red cabbage 36" or more.   Hint : when planting at 30" or more, you can interplant with something which finishes quicker, e.g. calabrese in between red cabbage.

Is the leaf a little crinkly or is it just the effect from the netting?  A crinkly leaf might suggest January King type.

I'd be tempted to thin out half of them & feed with dried blood if you want to stay organic.   You can use all the leaves from the thinnings in this recipe : http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=30944#30944

[muntjac]

do it now ,,,,, save ya watering  lolo

[mushroom]

A foot is the bare minimum even for spring greens.  I'd give spring greens 16" apart, summer cabbage / winter cabbage / savoy / jan king 30" or more, red cabbage 36" or more.   Hint : when planting at 30" or more, you can interplant with something which finishes quicker, e.g. calabrese in between red cabbage.

Is the leaf a little crinkly or is it just the effect from the netting?  A crinkly leaf might suggest January King type.

I'd be tempted to thin out half of them & feed with dried blood if you want to stay organic.   You can use all the leaves from the thinnings in this recipe : http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=30944#30944

I'll put this one down to inexperience it was my first growing bed. Regarding variety, I'd say the leaves weren't crinkled. You might see better here
it is the closest thing resembling a heart. They are kind of curling inwards but not enough. I'm wary of shifting them elsewhere - they are due for harvest in less than a month.

In terms of organic or not, I have sulphate of ammonia but I haven't got any dried blood - if there was more time I'd go down the organic route.
Great recipe WG, I'll do that tonight.

[muntjac]

nmah not crinkled .... wrinkles maybe  

[muntjac]

gaurantee they will soon move onto hearting .or i will eat em myself  

[brucesgirl]

If you do decide to thin them, you can eat what you take out as greens so they won't be wasted.

[mushroom]

If you do decide to thin them, you can eat what you take out as greens so they won't be wasted.

i'm chopping off the big leaves and fertilizing as per Munty. The leaves wont go to waste because i will red lentil as per WG.  

I don't want to thin them because, as I recollect, cabbages don't like thinning anyway but more to the point, these ones are meant to be ready about a month from now, so thinning now won't be helpful for the poor things. Unfortunately, I don't know what type they are, I was only told when given them that I should see a crop sometime in October if they take.

[muntjac]

if you seacrch autumn king they are a savoy type . crinkley ones

[sweet nasturtium]

Just to throw in another complication (I'm also first time cabbage grower) - I was told that if you plant them tighter the cabbages are smaller.  I prefer small cabbages so planted them at around 1ft too.  Was I misguided???