The Accidental Cabbage

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings." (Lewis Carroll
from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)


One thing they did not talk about though, was when you plant some cheap cauliflower seeds and what actually grows are cabbages.  I am not an expert vegetable gardener by any measure, I grow easy vegetables that I like to eat.  Cauliflowers do not appear on my list of easy, I have tried to grow them a couple of times and they usually do really well until the one day that you look away and then they bolt.  Should I have been so lucky to have picked one before they bolt, they are usually full of caterpillars.  Extra protein this may be, but not the sort I really want to digest.  The seeds were cheap though and in a packet with other vegetables I did want so I sowed them anyway.

It took a while before I decided they were cabbages, but they are definitely cabbages.  Some cynics may suggest that in fact I just failed to label that seed tray correctly and that the tray of cabbages that the slugs ate was in fact a tray of equally mislabelled cauliflowers, but I ask you, how likely is that?

On this particular frosty day I could not help but stop and stare and think how beautiful they looked.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one."  (Walrus and the Carpenter as above)

Well yes cabbages, you may well quake in your boots as your fate is sealed, what, do I ask, do you have to say about that?  ("but the answer came but none"........)

Comments

  1. The photos are great today. Frost on the edges is beautiful. Jack

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  2. Very beautiful frost on cau . . cabbages! I've never grown cauliflowers but understand they can be a pain. On the other hand, these deep green, thick veined cabbages are generally very tasty. The seeds may have been cheap and the contents mistaken - but looks as if you have, in a sense, a bargain, none the less!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks - yes I am happy with my cabbages - happy accidents often turn out well

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  3. Cabbages are quite beautiful really. One of the people in my art class did a watercolour of a savoy cabbage and it was stunning.

    I'm thinking of growing some ornamental cabbages next winter

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    1. For me the point of growing cabbages is to eat them - I am not keen on the ornamental ones at all

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  4. Lovely photos, but what a disconcerting thing to happen!

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  5. I never knew cabbages were so photogenic! Lovely photos. We grew some great cauliflowers last year much to our astonishment but this year's crop was tiny and sad. Last year we even sold some to our local shop. This year we kept very quiet!

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