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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:
> > > Could the cold have stunted it the way 
> > broccoli makes button heads?  Could it have crossed with something?
>
> It could be stunted.  This happens with brassica when the seedbed or pot is 
> far richer than the growing bed to which they are transplanted.  They do 
> not develop agressive root structure if the seedling mixture is too rich and 
> the unambitious roots can do nothing in the less fertile growing bed.  Best, 
> says I, to start such seedlings in nearly sterile medium.

If it is stunted, it is not due to the reason above.  The seeds were 
started in a sterile medium and transplanted to my best, most 
developed(in the range of raw materials to compost to soil to mulch), 
most fertile bed. The neighboring pak choi and chinese mustard look 
great, and the lettuces that were planted later are doing well, too.


> Having said that, I've grown it for years.  It's great for soup and stirfry 
> and the like.  I own it to be more or less a successful crop but it is 
> never as big or tightly wrapped as the grocery story variety.

Good to know.  I never expect what I grow to be as 'perfect' as what is 
found in the produce section of the market, but this cabbage looked like 
a different plant!
Since you have grown it before, how do you preserve it?
I was thinking of lightly sauteing the cabbage with a bit of garlic and 
then freezing it.  I may even mix the cabbage and the pak choy.


> Plant some more.  It doesn't require all that cool of temperatures.  

I don't have the space right now.  It is accounted for.  I will add it 
to the fall garden, however.


> Plowed the cornfield today with the horse.  We are both tired puppies.

I tilled/cultivated my garden today, too, but I used a 6hp tiller.  I 
got my first round of corn in(recall that I am planting 4 types so I 
have to spread the plantings out over time), and tomorrow we will be 
planting pole beans and transplanting some of the larger tomatoes.  I 
want to get the bush beans in, but I have to wait until the brassicas 
are done.

--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public 
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered 
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed 
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of 
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/