How to grow healthy cabbages
16:39 29th March 2010
Garden and greenhouse enthusiasts hoping to boost their chances of success when growing cabbages may be interested in a recent article in the Huddersfield Examiner.
The newspaper's horticultural expert Graham Porter suggested that now could be a good time to give the crops a high-nitrogen feed of diluted sulphate of ammonia.
This, he said, will help to "green up the leaves and give the plants the energy to fill out a little more".
Furthermore, growers can boost their chances of success by using a fleece covering to protect their crops from pests such as the White Cabbage butterfly caterpillar.
However, Brits hoping to get two annual crops from their apple trees will be disappointed to hear that this is almost impossible in the UK's climate.
Brazilian growers can use chemicals to achieve such results, but the best this country's garden and greenhouse enthusiasts can hope for is a single bumper crop, which can be gained through careful pruning, irrigation and feeding.
Meanwhile, the Royal Horticultural Society recently encouraged its members to take part in a River of Green growing campaign to mark the beginning of the finals of its Britain in Bloom contest.
