A few years ago I bought 'Paul & Becky's Asturian Tree Cabbage' seeds from The Real Seed Catalogue. These fantastic little seeds cost me £2.99 but have provided me with cabbage for the past 3 years (and I still have seeds left). The great thing about these plants is that they are perennials (I managed to keep one going for 2 years) and they have provided me with cabbage virtually all year round. I made the beginners mistake of trying to start them off in the greenhouse, which they didn't like at all - it was too hot and they withered and died; but after that initial blip I've had no problems with them, in fact, they've been one of the easiest plants I've grown on my plot and have become a firm favourite.
This year, I decided to have a go at saving my own tree cabbage seeds. As with all 'Real Seeds' products, they 'Tree Cabbage' came with it's own seed-saving instructions, which basically said to let the plant flower and allow the seed pods to dry on the plant before picking. I followed the instructions but was confused when the flowers formed on the plant and dropped off leaving nothing but a thin stem behind. I scoured the internet but could find little to guide me so decided to wait and see what happened, half resigning myself to the fact that I'd done something wrong and missed my chance to collect seeds. However, a week or so later I noticed that the remaining thin stem had started to fill out and had turned into a seed pod, amazing! You can see the stems and the seed pods on the close up picture below...
I'm intrigued to see how much bigger these tiny pods will grow. The next steps are to let them dry on the stem before cutting them and removing the seeds, I'll post 'Part 2' when that happens.
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