Cabbage 'Greyhound'

 Have a few 'Greyhound' cabbage and the centres all look like this one in the photo.  I'm wondering if it's a fungus and if I will lose them?  Does anyone know what this is and what I should do? 

I grow Greyhounds every year and if I didn't know better I would say they look as if they are ready to bolt but Greyhound are really good at not bolting.  As every one is affected it's probably not the odd insect in the soil either (I'm assuming you have a good row of them).  Another reason may be a deficiency in the soil.  Do you lime your soil? Apart from that I've never seen my cabbages like yours - perhaps it's the weather.  I've had rain and cold but not as much as UK and it is warm in between.  Mind you, my veggie plot is way behind this year.

It is a bit too late to sow again but you may find some plants in a nursery or someone may have a few left you could have.  You could sow some seed and with fine weather be able to have some "greens" later on but that's probably about it.

If they were my cabbages I would dig them up and harvest what I could from them, slice, blanch and freeze and not grow cabbage in that soil for the next couple of years.  By the look of the heart they are not going to get any better and you may end up with nothing.

It's such a shame when things go wrong.  All that hard work for zilch.

Hi Robot.  I did a web-search and the closest pic I could find to what's happening with my Greyhound seemed to indicate mould.  I have a tiny garden so only had 6 Greyhound in a small raised bed with beetroot Boltardy in the same bed.  I've dug up the Greyhound this afternoon and am hoping the beetroot won't be affected as they are looking good so far. From a quick bit of reading - I'm sure you're spot on about the heart - I think they would have rotted away pretty quickly had I left them.  However, if it turns out to be a soil-related issue, no doubt the beetroot will also take a hit fairly soon.  We've had continual rain this past week but not nearly as bad as the torrents and floods in the South of England and in Wales. (I'm Central Scotland).  I do also suspect that my soil wasn't sufficient to support veg.  I made up this very small raised bed as a last minute thing and it's composed only of what I had left to fill it with back in April - i.e. garden compost, leftover well-rotted manure, fresh topsoil and probably stupidly some granular feed.  It was originally intended for flowers but I decided to try veg at the last minute.

I'm hoping that even if the soil composition was the problem, that I will still be able to replace the cabbage space with a couple of shrubs or some Cranesbill geraniums.  I haven't a clue about veg or if the beetroot wouldn't 'go' with shrubs and geraniums in the same bed.

Thanks again for the reply.

Actually your soil composition doesn't sound too bad to me - I think the problem is likely to have been the weather   What about sowing some Ruby or Rainbow Chard - that way you'll have a leafy vegetable to replace the cabbages but it'll look attractive as well.  Good luch  

Hi Dovefromabove.   I suppose the weather could be just as much a factor as anything else.  Week ago we had a couple of days of high temps. from mid-day and it's be little other than rain ever since - and it's continual rain all day every day.  Yes, giving something else a try makes sense if there isn't some bug infestation under where the cabbage where.  If that were the case I'm thinking that maybe the beetroot would have showed flagging signs as well though.  I'm still unsure about the beetroot.  It's taking a beating in the rain so haven't had a close look today.

Oh yes - luck seems to be what I'd need with anything other than flowers at the moment.  My veg. attempts have been hysterical to an extent so far - hysterical in the funny laughter sense - not the other.  An example - take a look at the chives I started off in a little pot on the windowsill.  Started off ok and then this great big thing appeared.  Maybe the birds around the birdtable are dropping off the occasional seed.  You have to laugh!  Any idea what the tall weed-like intruder is? 

I left it out of curiosity. 

No idea at all!  Those chives look ready to pot on or put into the garden, so why not pot The Intruder on into it's own pot and see what happens?  Your guess about bird seed might be right but at least it doesn't look like the usual 'weed'  that occasionally pops up around  the bird feeders at work!

I'm sorry you have lost your crop, Yarrow2.  I doubt you would want to eat anything which has mould.  Me neither.  Hang on before ripping out the beetroot though.  They are pretty tough.

I'm wondering if your soil is slightly too acid as you are in Scotland.  Also you have put in manure (from either horse or cow which has been feeding on acidic grown grass) and top soil from your garden I presume.  You could invest in a soil test kit to be sure.

Our soil here is very much the same as there are lots of conifers woods, bracken and rhodies out in the wild.  I lime my veggie plot every autumn, then top with cow manure and let it over winter.  I've never had the soil tested but I'm guessing the acidity level is right down now as my "greens" do very well.

Please have another go as there's nothing like the taste of fresh veg straight from the garden.