Nick Hamilton can only wonder if 2008 will be his year for giant veg...
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| At least the brassicas did better...
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'Due to the weather, the seedlings grew away very quickly and were soon desperate to get into the ground – but by this time the ground was sodden...'
August 2007: Well, it was bound to happen. I should know better by now than to set myself up for certain disaster and, as far as the giant veg is concerned, disaster it certainly has been. Although I'm going to try and get away with passing some blame onto GM editor Liz, as it was she who wanted the seed sown a month early in order to get pictures for the magazine. Due to the weather, the seedlings grew away very quickly and were soon desperate to get into the ground. But by this time the ground was sodden and every time I attempted to firm in the young plants, they just moved in the soggy soil.
It was comical really and a bit like cottage gardening – where plants find their own best place. So the row ended up being a bit staggered and the plants firmed in as well as possible. The intention was to re-firm the plants when the soil dried a bit – some chance! We're blaming all our problems entirely on this lack of initial firming, although with the very strange growing year we have had, it could be any number of things. We did harvest our caulis, but each formed a curd the size of a golf ball before bursting into flower, leaving a lot of flower but not much cauli!
Brassicas did better
The cabbages did fair a little better, with some actually being harvested and eaten, although about half bolted before they reached any useful size. The largest cabbage was harvested in late July and was the size and shape of a large rugby ball – in a way I suppose we did better than most, because when the head was cut through, it had three hearts. Mind you, giant veg aside, our other brassicas were planted later in wet, but not soggy soil. They have performed much better – and in fact the cabbage 'Kilaxy' has produced rounded heads that are larger than the 'Robinson's Champion'. Not to be disheartened, I have decided next year will certainly be the year of the giant veg at Barnsdale!
Look further
Nick and Sue Hamilton run
Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland, Leicestershire, formerly owned by the late Geoff Hamilton.
* Photography: Redshift Photography
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