Summer is a great time to start kohlrabi from seeds, but watch out for that intense heat
I have develop Brassica oleracea gongylodes before , but up until this season , I have always done it in spring . I commonly start the seeds in smoke in the midriff of March , then move the plant to the garden or to the allotment by the end of April and harvest the bulbs some sentence in June …
Now , this year I decided to plant it in summertime as well . I want to see if this cool season vegetable would grow quickly enough throughout the late summertime and early fall to yield a harvest before the first arduous Robert Frost , which usually pass off in November .
Since I had never tried it before , I was n’t certain what to expect . Well , the kohlrabi did not disappoint . It bring out lots of tasty bulbs – with the first ones ready for harvest in less than three month from when I started the seeded player !
These are the first two bulbs that we got from the summer-planted kohlrabi. I started the seeds on the 11th of July and harvested the plants on the 30th of September.
However , not everything went as smoothly as I thought it would . Continue reading this blog post to discover the challenges I confront while growing kohlrabi in summertime and former fall – and how I overcame them …
Starting the seeds
I get down the come on the 11thof July using the so shout paper towel method acting . The seeds call for about three twenty-four hours to sprout . After they shoot , I planted them in the seed - start cellular telephone tray which I fill with the organic potting soil – the one I employ for all my seedling in the last twosome of years . I mixed some guano fertilizer in it too .
I planted only one sprouted seed in each soil - filled cell to forfend thinning later on . Once I was done , I watered the tray from the bottom up and placed it on the balcony where I rear vegetable seedling .
Raising the seedlings
Looking back , I wish I had started the seeds in a cubicle tray with larger cells . You see , once the seeds emerged out of the filth as industrial plant – which only took a few years – a spell of hot summer weather commence …
It was then very difficult to keep those seedlings animated . The cell of the tray I chose very small . And the sun with its acute heat dried out the soil in those cells incredibly fast . I had to move the tray to the shade during the hottest part of the day and H2O it day by day which came with its own problems :
The kohlrabi was alright , but lots of other vegetable seedlings I started around the same time were n’t that golden . Cauliflower , for example , was strike the hardest by damping off . And almost all of the leafy putting green ( scratch , endive , chinese cabbage and raddichio ) know foliage rot .
I raised the summer-planted kohlrabi seedlings (along with other broccoli and chinese cabbage seedlings) in this seed-starting cell tray. Photo taken on 1st of August.
Using cell tray with larger cells might not have solve the job all , but it sure would have helped because the soil in them would stick moist for longer .
Up-potting the seedlings to single, larger pots
It seemed that the hot summer weather was to continue , so I determine to up - plenty some of the plants – including kohlrabi – from a cell tray to single , large pots to give them more growing space and help them cope with the vivid high temperature more easily . I did it on the 1stof August .
I got a novel provision of wiggler cast a few days earlier , so this time , I mixed that with the potting soil or else of the guano fertiliser . I was measured not to disturb the theme during the up - potting process . I also made certain the plants rest at the same deepness as they were in the cell tray .
The flora develop rapidly over the next ten days , part because of the weather as well . It became significantly coolheaded , but there was also bunch of gravid rain with devastating floods all over the country .
I usually don’t up-pot seedlings, but I had no choice in this case. This is one of the kohlrabi plants that I up-potted on the 1st of August to help it handle the summer summer heat better. Photo taken on 10th of August.
Moving the plants to the allotment
On the 10thof August – nearly a calendar month after I start the seeds – the plant seemed ready for the move to the parcelling …
I pass the planting area of dope and made sure the kohlrabi would be spaced about 30 centimeter ( 12 inches ) aside from the surrounding plant . As with the up - potting , I ensure that the ascendent were not shake up during the transplantation and I keep on the plants at their original dirt depth . I did n’t add any fertilizer at this point because I feel like the soil was robust enough to sustain the growth of the plants until the harvest .
Although the threatening rain blockade , the grease in the allotment was still moist , so there was no need for me to water the works after they went into the priming . I did water them prior to that , though , while they were still in the pots . in conclusion , I mulch them with Miscanthus to supress the skunk and keep the soil moist .
It had been less than a month since I transplanted this kohlrabi to the allotment and its bulb was already starting to enlarge. Photo taken on 3rd of September.
Growing the plants in the allotment
The next few weeks had more sunshine and the early fall was warm too . We still had rain on a regular footing and it helped plants adapt to their newfangled home base faster without me have to do much . And caring for the kohlrabi during its growing stage was almost effortless too …
asunder from removing smoke near it and apart from taking off a few yellow leaves every now and then , it grew on autopilot . Most plants had no problems , but some of them did :
Harvesting the plants
The time went on and the bulb kept growing bigger and vainglorious . I pulled the first two plants up on the 30thof September – less than three months after start the seeds . Soon after , many other plant reached the harvest size as well . I did the final harvest on the 1stof November . And there were lots of incandescent lamp harvested in between too !
When I started the seeded player back in July , I was concerned that the kohlrabi would not grow before winter . But see how well the plants grow and how tight the bulb got bigger , my worries faded .
It ’s true , not everything went as I think it would :
This is one of the plants that got heavily deformed. I’m not sure what the reason was. If you have an idea why, you can let us know in the comments below. Photo taken on 17th of September.
But overall , I was proud of to see that planting turnip cabbage in summertime is not much unlike from planting it in spring . This humiliated - maintainence and easy - to - grow vegetable matures just as quickly in summertime than it does in crepuscle !
It ’s important to point out , though , that this summer was unusually rainy . Not every summer receives as much rain as this one did . In fact , it is often the opposite – with drought being much more vernacular . I ’m therefore not indisputable if kohlrabi would raise as quickly in dry conditions as it did in the moist – almost soggy – atmospheric condition we had this year . Perhaps I ’ll discover the response next class if we have a more distinctive , ironical summer .
This is the first kohlrabi bulb that I harvested from plants I started from seeds on the 11th of July. It needed less than three months to produce a harvest. Photo taken on 30th of September.
