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Wombat Dreaming



Chocolate Rum Dates
20 fresh dates
1 block good dark cooking chocolate
4 tb rum
         Cut dates in half; remove stone. Place in a jar with the rum. Put the lid on; leave for 48 hours, shaking now and then.
         Melt chocolate in microwave or in a bowl over simmering water- don't over cook it! Dip dates in melted chocolate. Lick fingers. L:eave to set- not in the fridge as chocolate goes grainy. Store in a sealed jar out of temptation. have absolutely no idea how long they  last,  because every batch has been eaten as soon as I brought them out, even by people who swear they hate dates but will just try one.....

Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

9 slices white bread, crusts removed, cut into quarters
150 gm dark chocolate
1 carton cream 425 ml
4-6 tb rum
125 gm brown sugar
1 tb butter
3 eggs
         Place cream, sugar, butter, chocolate and rum in abowl over hot water in saucepan. heat and stir till choc melted.
         Take off heat; beat in eggs.
         Take an oven proof dish; put in a layer of bread, layer of choc mix, layer of bread, layer of choc mix.
         Now either cover with clingfilm and elave in the fridge  overnight or for up to 48 hours- really gets the chocolate into the bread.Then remove clingfilm and bake as below.
         Or bake at once at 200C for half an hour- pud will be firm and slightly browned and crunchy on top. if still liquid cook a little longer.
         eat with more cream and masse of icecream. Note: this is VERY rich so you don't need a large helping; that way you can eat the leftovers for breakfast and climb Mt Everest by morning tea.

Apple Pancakes

1 cup S.R. flour
quarter cup castor sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
three quarters of a cup milk
1 cup grated apple
         Mix all in a bowl slowly so it doesn't get lumpy.
         Heat a frying pan; when hot add a spoonful of butter, marg or use a non stick pan.Turn heat down to medium.
         Scoop in tablespoonsful of the mix; when bubbles appear turn over till brown on the other side. 
Note: if it's black before bubbles form, turn heat right down.
         Serve hot or cold. I like them with just a sprinkle of lemon juice; Bryan likes his with lemon juice and brown sugar; also good with butter, or plain, or even jam and cream, or served hot for  dessert with icecream.

Welsh cakes

250 gm butter
500 gm self raising flour
200 gm castor sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla essense
300 gm currants
         Rb fat into flour; then add other ingredients. Mix well with your fingers. Roll out on a floured board and cut out neat rounds with a glass, or pinch out teapoonsful and press flat with your fingers. If the mix is too dry and crumbly add more butter. (Some margerines are 'whipped', so that they contain a lot of air, so you may need about 20% more for cooking)
          Fry on a greased/buttered  pan or  no stick pan for about three minutes each side on a low heat-  each side should be just brown. Store for months in a sealed container.
Note: the origional recipes used lard; honey or no sweetening  or vanilla and plain flour, but self raising flour gives a lighter result

Passionfruit and Mango Cordial

ps you need a funnel to get the cordial into the bottles or the cordial will go everywhere
2 large mangoes, chopped but not peeled
20 passionfruit, cut in half
juice of 20 lemons
3 kiloes sugar
12 heaped teaspoonsful tartaric acid
water
         Throw everything except the sugar in a large pot. Cover with water. Simmer for half an hour. Add sugar. Boil 10 minutes. Strain and bottle while hot. Throw scraps to the chooks.
         The cordial will be deep orange in the bottle, but only pale orange in the glass. Despite the pale colour it's still wonderfully flavoured- just doesn't have to artificial colour we're used to. Don't worry about the mango and passionfruit skins- they  add more flavour.


The March Garden
What to do in March

Everything: April is about the perfect month to garden- no hot wind like the breath of hell, no frozen fingers, and the weeds have stopped growing so fast you wonder if they're about to strangle you in bed. Start new beds, plant shrubs, build steps or  a lilypond.....you won't find a better time for garden fantasies till spring.
Buy: Lots of spring bulbs. Look for heat-hardy Paperwhite or Erlicheer jonquils and King Alfred daffodils and freesias, mini gladdies, ixias and ranunculi that will grow anywhere.  French tulips - no relation except I love the things - are the best tulip for warmer climates. Remember - DON'T plant bulbs in small pots, or they'll be one day wonders, flowering one day, dead the next.  Plant bulbs in the coolest soil around, not near hot walls or terraces.
Plant:  Cuttings of lavender, wormwood, daisies and native shrubs.
Divide: Clumps of perennials like agapanthus, red-hot pokers, Easter daises, salvias, chives: any clump which just gets bigger and bigger.  Dividing clumps now will give you more plants, plus more flowers - big clumps often stop blooming in the middle. Use a spade and commonsense ie slice, pull apart, and plant.
Feed:  Winter flowering shrubs or annuals; but don't feed any plant that might be cut by frost, as tender new growth is more easily burnt!
         ... and take a deep happy breath of flowers and fresh grass, because most gardens won't look as good again till next November.

It's time to grow
:
Flowers: white and purple alyssum, calendulas, poppies, pansies, primulas, violas, wallflowers
Frost free areas only: coleus, gerberas, nasturtiums, petunias, zinnias
Veg: broad bean seed, broccoli, caulflower and cabbage seedlings, winter lettuce seedlings, radish, spinach.
Frost-free areas only: any veg you can get your hands on!
PS  Many charts will tell you you can plant carrots, silver beet and beetroot in cold weather.  It's true these aren't killed by frost,  but they don't grow much in cold weather - and then go to seed as soon as spring warms up! Grow veg  that will really DO something instead.

Tip
: Plant a row of garlic chives along your flower bed.  You'll get  bright mauve pompoms in summer, plus garlicky green leaves to chop into salads, casseroles etc all winter. Once the clumps thicken up they'll help keep grass out of the garden too.

How to Grow Cabbages, Caulies, Brocolli etc for Winter

Cabbages  (Also cauliflowers, broccoli and brussel sprouts.)
Cabbages are an annual.  Broccoli, caulies and brussel sprouts are biennial though can become short lived perennials if you stop them going to seed.
When to sow:
Tropical areas

Cabbage:  Feb - November.
Broccoli:  May - June.
Brussel Sprouts:  Not suitable as they become puffy.
Cauliflower:  Feb - April.
Subtropical areas

Cabbage:  All year - choose varieties carefully for hot weather.
Broccoli:  All year - choose varieties carefully for hot weather.
Brussel Sprouts:  Not suitable as they become puffy.
Cauliflower:  Jan - April.
Temperate areas

Cabbage:  July - March.
Broccoli:  Late December - May.
Brussel Sprouts:  Late December - March.
Cauliflower:  Late December - March.
Cool areas

Cabbage:  August - March.
Broccoli:  October -  February.
Brussel Sprouts:  September - February.
Cauliflower:  September - January.

Seed germinates:  Between 4 - 24 C but is best sown when the temperature is over 16 C.
Seeds emerge:  6 days.
Time until first picking
Cabbage: 8 -16 weeks.
Broccoli:12 - 16 weeks.
Brussel Sprouts: 16 - 20 weeks.
Cauliflower: 14 - 26 weeks.
Number of plants needed for a family of four
.
         This is difficult.  You may eat 100 cabbages a year - but if they all crop in a one month period you may only eat a small fraction of your crop.  Try staggering your cabbages, sowing no more than a dozen at once. In cool areas if your cabbages are going to mature in cool to cold weather, they'll keep for months - so you can plant as many as you think you'll eat in winter and spring.
         Broccoli is easier.  About a dozen plants - well fed - will feed a family of four - or two dozen if, like us, you like broccoli.  Plant more every few months if the climate allows, so you get new luscious heads as well as the smaller regrowth.
         About half a dozen brussel sprouts plants should be enough.  (But I am biased - I don't really like brussel sprouts except stir fried with almonds and olive oil).  I like to have a cauli maturing every week - so  that is fifty two a year, but you will have to stagger the plantings carefully.
Essential points:   Grow the best variety for your climate and time of year. Protect from caterpillars. Feed well.
         There is an enormous feeling of security in the sight of a garden filled with cabbages.  They are perhaps the most domestic vegetable, giving a feeling of comfortable solidity.  In fact I'm not all that keen on cabbages - or any of the brassicas - it's just I wouldn't feel right if I didn't grow them and eat one of them at least every two days with dinner.  This affection for the cabbage family is probably something ingrained - part of the genes from innumerable cabbage eating ancestors.
         The cabbage family has been one of the vegetable basics for centuries. It was loved by the ancient Romans and worshipped by the ancient Egyptians.  Given cabbage's medical properties - see below - they may have had good reason.
         Cabbage was probably domesticated from wild kale by the ancient Celts.  The Romans selected and developed ever more varieties. Brussel sprouts were developed about 200 years ago in Belgium; broccoli was first produced about 150 years ago in an Italian market garden.  It was a deep purple at first then the green we know today.   Cauliflower is much older - beloved like cabbage in ancient Rome but originally domesticated - again from kale - in ancient Syria.  The name cauliflower comes from cole - or kale - flower, as it's the early flower curd that's eaten.
          Like most cottage staples cabbages should be incredibly hardy, and extraordinarily prolific.  In Australia, however, cabbage growing has two drawbacks - it's often too hot to grow good ones (even  'cool weather' may have unseasonably hot days) - and our long seasons mean hatching after hatching of cabbage eating caterpillars.
         The three rules for good cabbages (or broccoli, cauliflower etc) are:
.  Plant them to mature in cool weather for the best tasting, firmest vegies - either late summer, autumn, winter or early spring
.  Feed them well.  Brassicas  'sulk' if they're not fed properly. I've had starved cabbages in a patch of the garden do nothing for two years - then suddenly decide to heart when I hadn't even bothered to look at them for months. (You can in fact make use of this sulking habit - plant four seedlings together - the 'dominant' seedling will mature - but the others will wait till they have room and inclination - this is an easy way to stagger your crop with one planting.
Never plant a clump - or even worse - a row of cabbages.  Don't plant them on the outskirts of the garden either.  If you grow too many brassicas together it becomes a feast for the pests.   Break them up with other plants.
When to plant
         See above - but remember that even if you get a crop in hot weather, it won't taste as good as one harvested in the cool of the year. MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT VARIETY FOR YOUR AREA AND TIME OF YEAR.
         Timing is everything with brassicas.  Look carefully at when they will mature so you don't get a glut of them.  I try to time my brassicas to mature in early autumn, so we eat them all through winter and spring - then we forget about them for the rest of the year, except for the odd caulie and  broccoli head and cabbage for coleslaw or stuffed cabbage.  Actually, come to think of it, we eat quite a lot of brassicas all year round - but we really gorge on them in winter.
         One way to stagger your plants is to plant more when they are about as tall as your hand.  Another way is to plant different varieties with different maturing times so you get a long cropping period from one planting.

Feeding Your Cabbages, Caulies and other Brassicas
.     
         If you don't feed your brassicas they sulk - and you get a poor crop, or none at all.
         Brassicas need lime, dolomite or wood ash in acid soil; they don't mature well in very acid soil or where the soil is deficient in calcium.
          As most brassicas are slow growers they do well with a rich mulch that will provide nutrients all through their growing cycle, with a scatter of hen manure, blood and bone or soluble fertiliser when the plants are small if the soil is poor.  An old fashioned method of growing brassicas was to fill a trench with half sand and half rotted compost or manure and plant the brassicas on top.
         Brassicas may fail to produce heads if the soil is deficient in calcium; they may turn slightly purple if they lack phosphorus; won't thrive with a lack of magnesium; and thin or twisted yellowed leaves and general poor growth and lack of hearting  is usually due to molybdenum deficiency and is most common in caulies but can occur with brussel sprouts and to a lesser extent with all other brassicas.  One ounce of molybdenum dissolved in hot water used as a foliar spray for every ten square yards of seedlings is effective.   I use a green manure comfrey spray every day for a fortnight for a green foliar spray as long as I'm sure the leaves (ie the ones that have gone into the spray) aren't from a  molybdenum scarce area.  Leaves from old healthy caulies from the supermarket are a good source of a molybdenum rich material to use for a green foliar spray, or buy the trace element from your garden centre.
         Remember with broccoli that the more you pick the heads the more you will have to feed the plant.  I have harvested one broccoli plant for more than three years, picking the tiny heads every day - they toughen if you leave them any longer and let them flower.  I fed the plant the best mulch I had - old lucerne that had been trodden and manured by chooks - and it kept producing wonderfully till we went on holidays and it went to seed.   Old manure makes a good broccoli mulch.  As an alternative a scatter of hen manure or blood and bone every fortnight.
         An old way to grow brussel sprouts was to fill a trench with comfrey leaves, top with soil, leave for three weeks then plant the brussel sprout seedlings in the now sunken trench.  Gradually fill the trench with a mulch of compost or old animal manure or more wilted comfrey leaves. This is a lot of work but you do get a wonderful crop of brussel sprouts, possibly because the roots are well aerated as well as fed.  Otherwise give a light dressing of nitrogen rich fertiliser like hen manure, blood and bone or any of the quick fixes every two weeks till sprouts begin to form.  Then stop.
         Brussel sprouts are shallow rooted and a thick mulch is a good way to avoid moisture stress.
         Cabbages like limed soil, but dolomite is better than lime as it can correct any tendency to magnesium deficiency.  Wood ash will also make soil more alkaline and help relieve potash deficiency.  Cabbages can be sown into a compost filled trench or a mulch of old animal manure suits them perfectly.  In the absence of manure use the best mulch you have, with a dose of liquid manure or blood and bone, hen manure etc once a week.  Early maturing varieties seem to need more fertilising than slower maturers, possibly because they don't have their large root systems. Cabbages need to be watered regularly, especially if they aren't mulched; alternating wet and dry will cause their heads to crack.
        
Cabbages, caulies et al as herbicides
.
         Brassicas going too seed inhibit the germination of seeds around them and the growth of other plants.  I make use of this by letting a plot of brassicas go to seed in spring - then hauling them out two months later.  The result is a nearly weed free bed for early summer planting - and the massive roots have 'dug' the soil.
         The above may all sound complicated. In reality, if you have good soil and good cultivation practice, the only trick with brassicas is to know when to plant them and what varieties suit your area and the time of year you want to plant. That's mostly a matter of peering over your neighbour's shoulders and seeing what works for them - and looking through  seed catalogues for appropriate varieties, rather than choosing the  mass produced seedlings so often sold by nurseries, that are almost suitable for most areas - but really suitable for none.

Companion Planting for Cabbages and other Brassicas

         The main reason for using companion planting with your brassicas is to disguise them so aphids and caterpillar producing butterflies won't find them.
          Cabbage grown with red or white clover between the rows has fewer aphids and fewer cabbage white butterflies, partly due to camouflage but also partly due to an increase in pest eating predators, especially ground dwelling beetles and wasps.  Try  mowing your patch of clover very short, planting the seedlings in a long narrow trench (this is an exception to  not planting in rows), then mulching them well to suppress the clover immediately around each seedling.  Mow just either side of the trench - but let the rest flower.
         The bacteria associated with the clover roots will also add nitrogen to the soil as the mown clover decomposes.
         Lots of flowering weeds around the vegie garden will cut down the number of aphids on brassicas, by attracting predators who love the flowers, and who may also prefer to lay their eggs on the weeds.
         Try a trap crop of brassicas gone to  flower: aphids seem to prefer these plants and cabbage white butterflies may feed on the flowers then lay their eggs on the leaves - and leave your seedlings alone.
         The scents of cabbages and tomatoes grown together help mask each other, and will reduce the number of aphids and, to a much lesser extent, cabbage white or cabbage moth caterpillars.
         Other ways of discouraging butterflies include interplanting crops that disguise the smell or shape of the brassicas - the more plants the more disguise - and the fewer caterpillars.  It's an almost direct correlation.  Ten disguise plants to one cabbage will give you only a tenth of the caterpillars - more or less (hopefully less) depending on the disguise value of the other plants and the variety of the cabbages, the time of year and many other variables - including what weeds and other crops are grown nearby,.
         If nematodes are a problem try growing mustard in between the rows or grow mustard before the brassicas and slash it for mulch.  Keep up levels of organic matter in the soil to  encourage earthworms, mycelium webs and other ways of destroying young nematodes.  Grow comfrey nearby for free  good quality mulch.

What Can Go Wrong

         Pests find their food supply in two ways - either by scent or appearance - often by silhouette.  Brassicas have a very distinctive shape. The more you interplant your cabbages, the less of a pest problem there'll be.
         This year, for example,  I've got one lot of broccoli planted on the terrace by the kitchen.  It's an almost complete failure - the shapes are very visible to any pest that flutters by - and another lot disguised among parsnips and dahlias.  They're doing fine - even though they are only a few metres away.
         If you are really worried by caterpillars, MAKE SURE YOU LET A FEW BRASSICAS GO TO FLOWER.
         Most pests are lazy - they'll lay their eggs where they feed.  If you let a few broccoli plants flower - they'll last for years if you keep snipping them - you'll find most of the eggs are laid on them, after the butterflies have fed on the nectar from the flowers.
         Our best defence here are the annual wild turnip weeds. They flower through most of summer - and their presence is enough to protect  the cabbage crop nearby.

Other  brassica problems

Spindly broccoli.

         This has been starved.  Feed the poor thing and it'll feed you. (old hen manure etc is excellent - broccoli need more nitrogen than other brassicas, as they give more crop per plant if you keep harvesting the heads.)
         Don't just pick the central broccoli head.  The more you pick your broccoli the more you'll get.  The heads will be progressively smaller, but there'll be more and more of them.  I once kept a  broccoli plant going for three years.  Then I went on holiday and the whole lot went to seed, and toughened.  By then it was enormous.  At the moment we've got rather dwarf looking cabbages that we've been harvesting for two and a half years.  They produce small, brussel sprout like heads at irregular intervals.
Puffy Brussel Sprouts
.
         If your brussel sprouts aren't firm it's either too hot or you used too much nitrogen to feed them (mulch instead for both problems).  In a trial plot here, compost fed sprouts planted at the same time as urea fed sprouts yielded an excellent crop - the urea fed crop gave a few puffy blobs then went to seed.
Puffy or Gone-to-Seed Cabbage

         Cabbage can be sown at any warm time of the year, though the firmest heads come from cabbage planted after Christmas for autumn winter and spring.  Cabbage can go to seed quickly in hot weather. Pick cabbages as soon as the head seems to elongate - at this stage it's getting ready to burst to seed.  Puffy cabbage have had too much nitrogen and too much heat and water. Give a more balanced feed, especially if you like summer cabbage.
         Like brussel sprouts, compost fed cabbage tolerates extremes more than cabbage fed on a high nitrogen fertiliser.  If you must use a high nitrogen fertiliser like Dynamic Lifter or hen manure, try to give a fortnightly dose of liquid foliar seaweed spray to help check nutritional imbalances.
 Purple  or Tough Cauliflower

         Summer caulies turn purple and become tough.  Wrap the outer leaves around them to keep them soft, white and tender (sounds like a detergent commercial for your hands).  New varieties don't have enough leaves to wrap round the heart -  avoid them.  Beware of 'miracle maturers', too - caulies that are supposed to heart early.  Most I've tried here have matured at the same rate as the non-hybrids - but only with enormous quantities of fertiliser and water.  They don't hold as well as old fashioned 'Paleface' either.
         Try cutting off the head of the cauliflower - don't pull the whole thing up. Small heads should then form around the stalk.  These can be eaten too.  Once the stalk starts to rot, though, remove it - it will inhibit other plants.
Aphids.

         Plant the caulies, cabbages etc later - you have probably planted them too early.  Add potash to the soil with wood ash, comfrey or compost.  Hose them strongly or  make a spray of glue and water to suffocate them.
Molybdenum deficiency

          This mostly affects cauliflowers but other brassicas can also suffer.  Plants are stunted and yellow, with thin or distorted leaves and may not produce worthwhile sprouts or centres.
          Most Australian soils are at least slightly molybdenum deficient.  Compost made  from molybdenum deficient material will also be deficient.
         The traditional cure is molybdate dissolved in hot water used as a foliar spray.  Make a molybdenum spray by soaking comfrey or cauliflower leaves from the greengrocer in water till it turns pale green. Spray morning and dusk for three days then weekly.
Magnesium deficiency

           Cabbages are susceptible to magnesium deficiency.  The most obvious symptom is brittle areas between the veins.
         Give each plant a teaspoon full of dolomite, well watered in.  Try  foliar sprays if the plants are large.
Phosphorus deficiency

         Cabbages are pale and don't last.
         Add ground rock phosphate or old hen manure.
Potash deficiency

         Brittle areas round the leaves.
         Sprinkle wood ash and water well.  Try a foliar spray for a short term solution.
Black cabbage rot

          Leaves develop v-shaped brown patches that become thin and brittle.  Affected seedlings often die.
          Practice crop rotation making sure that you clear all infected material from old crops.  Cover ground with clear plastic for three weeks after an infection. Most good compost will inhibit black cabbage rot, especially if made with lucerne hay.  A double strength garlic spray or chive spray may help.
Cabbage white butterfly, cabbage moth caterpillars
.
          Skeletonised foliage;  young plants may be eaten to the ground.
         Surround the beds with strongly perfumed herbs like lavender, or interplant with almost any other crop - the more interplanting the smaller your problem will be.  The moths and butterflies recognise their food supply by the scent and silhouette - if you can disguise the cabbages et al you'll protect your crop.
         It is also a good idea to always leave some brassicas from last season going to seed - or plant some specially for that purpose six months before.  The adults feed on the brassica blossom  - then lay their eggs on the leaves below, ignoring your seedlings. Wild brassica weeds are also good 'trap crops' - I once grew commercial crops with no other protection than gone to seed brassicas and turnip weed nearby.
         Once the caterpillars are attacking the plants, try squashing them.  This seems laborious, but is actually much faster than you'd think. The squashed - stationary - caterpillars attract birds, wasps and other predators to feed on them - and they will start eating the live ones too.  Encourage a good weed  or bush community around your garden so you always have plenty of caterpillars around - and the predators to eat them. This will eliminate the lag between pest and predator build up.
         Empty egg shells in the beds may sometimes outfox the butterflies as to their population density.  Strips or beds of white clover around or between the crop may also deter them.
         Try tansy antifeedant - just cover tansy with boiling water, cool, strain and spray.  As a final resort, spray with DIPEL or derris.  Make sure that you spray or dust the undersides of leaves as well as tops, as this  is where the young caterpillars will be hiding.
         Try flour first.  This is a caterpillar stomach poison. It will take three or four days to be effective, however, and may be washed off before enough is eaten.
         Mix flour and boiling water to a bill sticker's paste, then add more water and spay that.  Glued up bugs stop eating - and are easy for predators to find.
         Try DIPEL as the next resort, or clay spray (this is just clay and water - no dirt, though), bug juice or white pepper spray. (White pepper spray will slightly dehydrate the caterpillars.  Most will die; the rest will be easy prey for birds etc).
         You might also try dusting the leaves with powdered rock phosphate for the same effect. If these fail try  wormwood spray, garlic, quassia, or dusting or spraying with derris.  These are all last resorts, though, as they all kill non target species.
Caterpillar trap

This may be useful for large infestations where caterpillars denude one plant then move on to the next.  Place a small three sided box at the base of plants - about 10 mm high. Place a scatter or lime or wood ash inside. The caterpillars should shelter there during the day and dehydrate. A scatter of wood ash around plants also stops migration.
         Note: While the cabbage moth is quite different from the cabbage white butterfly - it's greyish brown and  hairy with  yellow diamond shaped markings when the wings are folded - the caterpillars of both are easily confused.  Both are green and both devastate cabbages, cauliflowers and similar crops.  Cabbage moth caterpillars however are a clearer green than cabbage white caterpillars and lack the velvety appearance and yellow stripe.
         In terms of garden control however the difference is slight. Cabbage moths also lay their eggs on the underside of leaves.  The cabbage moth caterpillar tends to eat towards the heart of the vegetable and may cause even more damage than the cabbage white.
         Like cabbage whites, the cabbage moth caterpillars are predated by a range of imported wasps - different ones  from the cabbage white's.  Native wasps don't appear to be so particular and I have noticed two species here that will carry off either.  The same range of birds also appears to attack both.

Yellow or purple cauliflower heads
.
          These have been exposed to too much direct sunlight. Curl the leaves over while they are maturing.
Loose broccoli heads

         Pick them sooner, grow in cooler weather or choose a heat resistant variety.
Clubroot

           Roots are large and knobby; plants may wilt, especially in hot weather, die or just grow slowly.
          Protect your crop from nematodes with a companion crop of crotalaria  or mustard.  Keep up levels of organic matter, especially in sandy areas where clubroot is worst.   YOU MUST ALWAYS HAVE ORGANIC MATTER STEADILY DECOMPOSING ON TOP OF THE SOIL TO CONTROL CLUBROOT.
          Try barriers of old tin cans with tops and bottoms cut out as 'root guards'.  Add a sprinkle of lime or dolomite to the soil to reduce acidity.  Practice stringent crop rotation -  at least four years before any of the cabbage family, swedes or turnips are grown in that spot.
Slugs

         Slugs love cabbages.  Put a sharp collar made from an old tin can lid around each cabbage stalk or even a ring of  much crinkled alfoil. Drizzle derris spray through the leaves, so it penetrates as much as possible - but wash very well before using as the derris may not break down as quickly in the shelter of the cabbage leaves.  See 'Snails and slugs'.

Types of Cabbage
Chinese cabbage

         This can be grown at any time of the year; it matures very quickly.  It makes a leafy but quite good coleslaw.
Red Cabbage
(eg Red Acre)
         These are usually large and are best planted in mid summer to mature in winter and spring.  They make excellent coleslaw.
Red Cabbage Salad
         This is simply made as follows:  Dress your finely chopped red cabbage with a very little sesame oil and soy sauce (a teaspoon of each is plenty for three cups of cabbage); then dust with toasted sesame seeds.
Savoy
(eg Carter's Improved)
         This is the crinkly cabbage - it is leafier and tenderer than most cabbages - and also less strongly 'cabbagey' in flavour so a much more seductive veg than ordinary cabbage.
Drumhead

         These are the big, solid cabbages - the sort you'd feed to a draught horse. They need to be sliced very finely for coleslaw or other salads or they are too tough.
Sugarloaf

         These small, conical cabbages are 'one meal' cabbages. They also need to be sliced very finely and can be tough, though they are generally sweeter than the large drumheads.
Types of Broccoli

Italian calabrese
: pale green shoots with very tender side shoots.  One of the most delicious broccolis.
Romanesco
:  Spiralled heads - very attractive.
         Also look for heat resistant hybrids.
Cauliflower

Mini cauliflower
:  Excellent for growing in pots.
Early purple head
:  Rich purple heads turn bright green when cooked.
Paleleaf or Paleface
: An old fashioned, slow maturing, very reliable cauliflower - our favourite.
Snowball
:   Very fast maturing caulie, but not suitable for hot districts.

Harvesting cabbages, caulies et al.

         Pick cabbages while they are still firm, they'll stay firm for months in cold or cool weather, but may quickly go to seed in hot weather. Some varieties 'hold'  better than others.  Pick cabbage as soon as it's firm in wet or humid weather, in case it starts to rot.
         Once you've picked the first cabbage head baby ones sometimes appear on the stalk.  These are also good to eat.  Try them stir fried.
         Pick broccoli as soon as the heads are big enough to bother with.  Don't leave them too long as the texture coarsens and they open further to finally turn into yellow flowers.  By this time they are tough, soggy and slightly 'off' tasting.
         Don't just pick the first main great big head of broccoli.  Once you've picked that one more will form at the sides - and once you've picked those you'll get still more - for years if you keep picking. 
         In hot weather you MUST pick broccoli every day - or every second day at most - or it will toughen.  In cool weather a head may last for a couple of weeks without picking.
         Caulies are best small too - they are firmest and sweetest then.  Don't get greedy and wait for them to get bigger and bigger - you probably won't eat the whole thing anyway.  Eat it when it's small and firmest and very white and the flowers are still curled into each other.
         Pick brussel sprouts as soon as they're walnut size.  They can soon get puffy and the leaves will be flabby and rank.  The bottom ones are often too puffy to bother with.
         Old fashioned brussel sprout varieties crop over at least a month with the lower ones ready first, but modern varieties - bred for farmers who want to pick the whole lot and sell them and get the ground ready for another crop - often mature almost all at once.

Saving Seed

         Cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli and caulies must be separated from each other - and other brassicas - and other varieties or they will cross.  Collect seed only from non-hybrid plants.  Pick out the top flowers and collect seed from the lower ones.  Brussel sprouts and broccoli need to 'cross' with at least one other plant, preferably several, flowering at the same time.
         Seeds last 3-4 years. 
Fresh Eating Period:  All year round .
Storage Time:  Several weeks in fridge.  Store cabbages and broccoli and caulies in crumpled up newspaper - it will keep them dry and stop them smelling - and if they do smell it will stop the stink contaminating anything else.

Nutritional value

Cabbage:  100 kj per 100 gms good vitamin C,  reasonable calcium and fibre.
Broccoli: 150 kj per 100 gm, excellent source of folic acid, vitamin A and C, good source of calcium and fibre. 
Brussel sprouts:  200 kj per 100 gm, excellent vitamin C, folic acid and fibre.
Caulies:  100 kj per 100 gm, good vitamin C, reasonable folic acid and fibre.
What parts you can eat
         All parts of brassicas are edible - except perhaps the roots. (These aren't toxic but aren't appetising either).  Eat the heads - cabbage, caulie etc.  You can also eat the stalks - peel away the tough outside and stir fry the tender inside.  You can also do this to the stalk as it goes to seed.
         The flowers are good stir fried.
Note:   If you don't like the 'cooked cabbage' - or broccoli, brussel sprout etc smell - add a whole unshelled walnut to the water you boil it in - or of course stir fry instead.

Coping with surplus cabbages, broccoli et al

Sauerkraut

         This can also  be made with lettuce or cabbage or young green beans.
         Shred clean crisp cabbage as finely as you can. Weigh out two kilos in a bowl and cover with three tablespoons of salt.  Mix and leave till the cabbage wilts a bit - it is easier to press into a jar when soft and the juice should start flowing. Now press down as hard as you can in a pottery  or opaque plastic jar.  Try to force all air out - this will also help to force the juice out.  Cover with a plastic bag half filled with water - this should edge snugly round the cabbage so no air can get in at all.  If there isn't enough juice to cover the cabbage in 24 hours add salt and water - one cup of salt to ten cups of water.  Leave in a  cool place (about 70 F/ 25 C ?) for about six weeks.  Then place in a saucepan with the juice and bring  to the boil.  Pack into clean jars and seal.
How to cook sauerkraut.

         Melt a knob of butter in a large pan; sauté a sliced onion till transparent.  Rinse and drain the sauerkraut and cook for five minutes, add a grated apple.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  A little stock or water will be needed to moisten.  Bake in a moderate oven till tender.
         Sauerkraut can be sprinkled with brown sugar or caraway seeds.
Pickled Cabbage
         Slice, sprinkle with salt, stand for twelve hours, press out moisture, place in jars and cover with vinegar.  Seal the jars.

Dried Cabbage

         This is usually made from Chinese cabbage, though other cabbages can be used as well - choose tender inner leaves for drying.  You can brush the leaves with lemon juice first - it keeps its colour and softness better - but isn't necessary.  Leave the leaves in the sun for a couple of days till they are almost transparent.  Take them in at night.
         Brush the dried leaves with water and fill with vinegar rice  with a layer of pickles in the middle.  Wrap in  a neat package  and slice thinly, so you see a green then a white then a  pickle layer.
Vinegar Rice

         For every two cups of rice add two tablespoons of white vinegar and half a tablespoon of sugar.

Rumbledethumps

2 cups mashed potato
2 cups cooked cabbage
1 chopped onion, sautéed in butter
grated  sharp cheese
pepper
         Mix all the ingredients except the cheese. Place in the oven, top with cheese.  Bake till hot.

Coleslaw

         This is basically cabbage shredded as finely as possible, dressed either with - usually bottled - mayonnaise or vinaigrette dressing. I prefer the latter.  You can use any of the cabbages for coleslaw, including red cabbage and Chinese cabbage.
Try adding:
. grated carrot and/or grated beetroot.
. chopped parsley.
. a little chopped dill.
. sesame seeds.
. walnuts and thinly sliced unpeeled apple.
. roughly chopped macadamias.
. thinly sliced smoked pork with thinly sliced granny smith apple.
. raisins (a popular addition, though I don't like them).

Cabbage with  Onions and Optional bacon

         Fry a few onions in oil; add a little chopped bacon, then add finely shredded cabbage.  Stir till cooked, then add just a dash of soy sauce.
         Some chilli and garlic added with the bacon is a good addition too.

Stir Fried Brussel sprouts with Almonds
.
         Brussel sprouts get even soggier on contact with water.  (Note - cold climate brussel sprouts are firmer - we don't get very good ones here.  If I lived in Tasmania I might love brussel sprouts more.)
         Heat olive oil in a pan, add chopped garlic, then throw in brussel spouts - not too many or they will steam instead of fry.  Cook, stirring rapidly, till they turn bright green, then another five minutes.  Add peeled sliced  or whole almonds and cook another minute.  Serve hot.
         (This is also good with cauliflower.)

Cauliflower Salad

         Steam cauli florets till JUST tender.  Cool under cold water at once.  Dress with one part lemon juice, three parts olive oil and  a good dash of grainy  French mustard  and a generous dash of garlic.  Now add lots of chopped parsley and garlic chives - and serve either semi-warm or cold.

Medicinal Cabbages

         A warm cabbage leaf used to be applied to the breasts of women with mastitis, to ease the pain and inflammation.  Certainly the warmth would help, but it is possible that cabbages also help heal skin problems - cabbage leaves and fresh cabbage juice have long been applied to wounds and skin irritations, and cabbage juice is mildly antiviral and antibacterial.  A warm cabbage poultice is also said to ease the pain of arthritic joints.
          Cabbages were also eaten to dispel drunkenness.  While many other old remedies using cabbages - like drinking cabbage juice to expel worms - probably did work to varying degrees, this remedy probably didn't.
         Cabbages were also used in ancient Rome to cure tumours and cancers - and do contain various anticancer and antioxidant compounds.  It speeds up oestrogen metabolism, and helps inhibit breast cancer and pre cancerous polyp growth.  In one study two tablespoons of cooked cabbage a day almost doubled the chances of avoiding stomach cancer.
         Cabbage juice is mildly antibacterial and antiviral; eating cabbage has been shown to be helpful in diets of ulcer patients.  Raw cabbage is probably better than cooked cabbage , (try fresh cabbage juice - but for medicinal rather than gourmet reasons) but cooked cabbage is also invaluable.
         Eat lots.
         Broccoli, brussel sprouts, chinese cabbage and caulies also share these properties to smaller or larger degrees.  Broccoli is said to help lower blood pressure.
         'This I am sure, cabbages are extremely windy whether you take them as meat or medicine; yea, as windy meat as can be eaten, unless you eat bagpipes or bellows, and they are both seldom ate in our days... '
         Nicholas Culpepper


Why you should grow your own cabbages!

         Cabbages et al may be treated with a  range of pesticides for cabbage aphids and caterpillars.  Demeton-s-methyl is an organophosphate, extremely toxic to humans and birds (that eat the aphids and so are poisoned). It persists for several weeks. Dimenthoate is a suspected carcinogen; acephate is systemic, a new insecticide apparently with low persistence; permethrin is an artificial pyrethroid, relatively harmless except to bees and fish but quite persistent.

A Few More Recipes here