The Cole Crops or Cabbage family.
This is a very nutritious set of plants thatwe're going to be talking about today.
When I say the cabbage family, there are actually many different vegetables that we grow in
the cruciferous family.
The Cruciferae.
Cabbage is one of them, but closely related are broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and
many others.
Radicchio is a good example of these kind of specialty crops that are in this family.
They are high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C. They have good calcium and iron.
In addition, there is a cabbage glucosinolate called sinigrin that has shown great promise
as a cancer preventative.
These crops can be started in Spring, early Spring, about six weeks before the last frost,
or out in the garden in June in our area.
Except for Brussels sprouts which are a long season crop of 120 days.
So you start the seeds in the Spring to have those plants mature in the late growing season.
In fact, a frost won't hurt Brussels sprouts at all and may improve the flavor.
To get started you plant the seeds about 1/4 inch deep in compost or potting soil, 6 weeks
before the last frost or right in the ground in the garden in June.
After the little plants emerge in 7 days, generally, you give them another week and
then you thin the plants.
Transplanting these little plants into larger pots to give them more room.
If you've planted them in the garden you just thin them out and let each plant stand where
they are about a foot apart.
You want to plant your cole crops in full sun, but if part of your garden is shady,
you can put these plants in light shade, leaving the sunny parts of your garden for the warm-season
sun-loving plants like tomatoes.
You want a good well-tilled soil.
They are heavy feeders so it has to have plenty of compost or other nigtrogen rich amendments.
The pH range is best from 6.3 to 6.8.
If you have had any problem with clubroot, a disease of cabbage plants in the past, you
will want to keep the pH at a fairly high level.
When you are purchasing your plants at a garden center, you want to pull those plants out
of the pot and take a look at the roots.
You want to be planting a teenager plant, with plenty of vim and vigor.
You don't want a too mature plant.
These we've grown here at Marsh Botanic Gardens.
They are a bit on the mature side, but they are just fine.
We've had five days of rain in the last week, so I'm going to go ahead and plant these.
Notice the roots.
If the root mass covers the bottom of the ball, you want to avoid buying that plant.
We plant these plants in well-tilled garden soil, well drained
and water immediately.
An important point is to make sure you label everything.
This is a little savoy cabbage and what I do in my labeling system; I write on the label
the date that I planted the seeds, the day I transplanted them to a larger pot and the
day I put it out in the garden.
I make sure I put the name of the plant right next to it.
This may seem like a lot of work, but later on as you compare which varieties of broccoli
say, that were the most productive and the best for you, you'll want to make sure that
you have records of what you planted.