The growing conditions for North Holland's open ground vegetables are proving difficult due to the wet weather. "We've had a substantial amount of rain, causing the fertilizers to leach out again. Eventually, our pointed cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and bok choy will all come off the field, but it takes a while before they start growing vigorously, which throws our programs and scheduling off track," explains Coen Swages of TB&S from Sint-Pancras. "The quality is still fairly good, although we are seeing some Xanthomonas in the white cabbage. All in all, this year is not going smoothly again."
Left: Coen with Violetti, right a field of pointed cabbage
The Portuguese pointed cabbage season at TB&S is almost over. "We only have a few crates of coarse pointed cabbage left for the cutting plants. The Portuguese season went well, and supply and demand were well-matched. We also didn't experience any extreme weather conditions in Portugal, which of course contributes to a good growing season," says Coen. The supply of Portuguese pumpkins will start up again at the beginning of July. "That crop is looking good and is on schedule."
Moving cultivation entirely to Southern Europe is not an option for TB&S. "The seasons do not run concurrently, but we do appreciate having some spread. The Portuguese vegetables do overlap with our storage, so if necessary, we can adjust. However, we're not guaranteed good weather in Southern Europe either. Last year, we experienced a lot of water damage there. Now, it's the Netherlands' turn, causing us to be quite behind on planting. But by utilizing the best parcels, we're trying to catch up in the coming period. With the fully automatic planting machine, we can at least make long days."
The cultivation planning at TB&S hasn't changed much this year. "We sometimes get a request for a different crop, and then we check if it fits with us. For example, we've been growing Chinese cabbage for the third year now. It remains technically challenging. We cover the entire crop with cloth, but that's a lot of work," observes Coen. However, pointed cabbage remains the main crop at the North Holland open ground vegetable grower. "We're also gradually expanding our purple pointed cabbage Violetti. In about three weeks, we'll have this specialty available again. Cutting plants are increasingly getting involved with Violetti. Now we're just waiting for the first retailers to dare to include this unique vegetable in their assortment!"
For more information:
Coen Swager
TB&S
Vronermeerweg 1
1834 AX Sint Pancras
+31 (0)6 53 49 84 60
[email protected]
www.spitskool.com
www.violetti.nl