Brassicas are all the cabbagey things plus the turnips, swedes mustards and radishes and then there are all the oriental veggies.

Brassica oleracea vegetables such as cauliflower sprouts and ordinary cabbage all have 18 chromosomes. So has charlock a bright yellow weed that is common on my farm and generally in this area. All of these in the words of Laurence Hills join and change partners in the dance of life as easily as all races do at a Fourth of July party at an American Air base in Hawaii. I have never been to a 4th of July party in Hawaii but I do know how easy it is to get your broccoli mixed up with your cabbage. So this is not an easy group for the beginner. It also takes two years to produce seed as the first year the plant is busy producing sprouts of leaves and doesn’t do flowers until the second year. (some summer broccoli will seed in the same year) The good news is that the seed keeps for a long time so if you do one a year for seed and the others for eating you can keep 10 or so varieties going. Add a few other seed savers into the equation and the number of varieties you could grow is endless. To produce seed form a cabbage Laurence Hills suggests you cut it from top to bottom and then across dividing it into quarters. This prevents water collecting in the cabbage during the winter and ensures that the plant will grow new shoots from each corner in the spring about two feet high and four feet square and a mass of solid bloom. The seed stalks are gathered in August and threshed. Brussels sprouts should be staked and the top cabbage bit allowed to sprout. However commercially the stump is cut down to the foot in spring and the side shoots are allowed to flower. Because Brassicas are out breeders a larger number of plants need to be grown to avoid inbreeding. At least twenty individuals should be kept for seed, which is quite an investment in space, and kilograms of seed will be produced. Inbreeding causes reduced vigour and yield. Varieties should be 800m apart.

Well-stored seed keeps for at least ten years so a different type can be saved each year. Another necessary precaution is to plant a big block of the type of brassica whose seed you wish to save to make it less likely that plants at the heart of the block will be pollinated by insects carrying pollen from Brassicas elsewhere.

Brassica rapa-Chinese Cabbages, Mizuna etc. and white turnips, This group has 20 chromosomes and keep themselves to them selves. Often you can let more than one variety go to seed in the year by separating their flowering times. An over-wintered mizuna, for instance will have set its seed before a spring sown Pak Choi starts to flower in late summer.

Raphanus sativus Radish
Radishes are annuals and produce seed the same year. However many planted late in the year will over-winter and flower spectacularly in spring. Varieties should be 400 metres. apart Radishes will cross with each other but not with other Brassicas. The same applies to mustards. As a result, only one variety of each should be allowed to run to seed each season and the block-

Seed Separation and Storage
Cut and collect the seed stems before the pods begin to scatter their contents over the garden. You will get many more seeds than you can use Allow the stems to dry indoors and beat and sieve to extract the seed. Store in an airtight jar in a cool place. They should remain viable for at least five years.