[ellied]

The tops of the brassicas are just visible in parts, but mostly been under snow for a month.  I had left an almost full bed of broccoli (purple sprouting and calabrese), curly kale and various other greens that are meant to overwinter ok - there's even some perpetual spinach and leeks under there somewhere, but I've not seen those and fear the worst

The tops I can see don't look terribly happy but I was wondering if there is any chance of them coming back and whether I can help them in any way eg would it be good to try and free them of snow or would they be more protected underneath snow and just be ice-damaged if I exposed them?

Or are they a write off that I might as well just pull up and feed to the ponies for a bit of dietary interest?

[HappyHippy]

Brassica's are usually fairly hardy - I'd pull one or two up (if the ground's not too frozen) and check them. The snow might have acted as insulation ? If they're past it, it's unlikely they'll recover now, but you never know 

[Fleecewife]

Last year I made the mistake of leaving a bird net over my winter brassicas so when we had two feet of snow it weighed the net down and crushed/broke most of the plants below.  I couldn't get the snow off as it was too deep and heavy.  Once it thawed, about 2/3rds of the plants were dead, but the rest did pick up a bit and gave a crop later.  Sprouts were a write-off, but broccoli gave us some meals later in April and May.
This year I have taken off the net but the ground froze like rock so early that I couldn't stake the individual plants.  This means that many are lying down under their covering of snow, but the cabbages and broccoli look as if they will grow on and give us a crop later.

I suggest that as the snow starts to melt you give each brassica plant a shake to remove the heaviest of the snow then pull off any dead leaves and discard any obviously dead plants, but give the rest a chance by leaving them until the weather starts to warm up.

Calabrese and leeks are likely to be gonners.  Spinach might be ok by spring, but I know I can't grow it outside here.

A full covering of snow can be a good thing if you have rabbits around as we do - if they can see green they will eat it.  On the other hand, if the plants are completely covered then rodents such as bank voles will approach from below and nibble them - which is why our sprouts had nothing left for us last year.

I never count on getting more than about half of what I sow each year

[ellied]

Thanks, it's starting to thaw this morning, tho not very far yet   Will see what emerges and thin out as you suggest - the caterpillars got a lot of the autumn leaves so I've not had much cropping as yet from them but hopefully I can at least get one or two meals out of the whole plot

[princesspiggy]

our purple sprouting survived last winter to crop well in the spring. and our perpetual spinach survived to crop again, and we had good snow last winter. i saw our bright lights/chard today and it didnt look too good so i kept walking lol    couldnt u just remove the bad leaves and see if it regrows in spring?

[Fleecewife]

Have you had a chance to look properly at your brassicas now ellied?  I had a look at mine today - what a sorry sight!  Like yours, they were under heavy snow for a month, with temps down to -15.  They haven't been eaten by anything, but some are badly damaged by snow and frost.  The worst affected were a broccoli called Lancer, mixed white and purple - the white ones had grown extremely tall so inevitably they are the ones which had fallen flat.  Most of their stalks are bent over and mushy so I can't see them recovering.  Most of the purple broccoli is saveable - I've stood the plants as upright as they will easily go and staked them.  Purple and green kale looks scruffy but will be fine, brussels sprouts were all at about 30 degrees to the ground, but are now staked and gave a good crop for our dinner this evening with plenty more to come.  The savoys have a little frost damage to the outside leaves but the insides are fine, although they taste a little bitter.
The rest of the veg garden looks terrible. However, I know from past years that a bit of work when the weather is dry and it will all be full of lovely food again for summer.

[ellied]

Some of them seem to be recovering, curly kale being the most resilient but there is something else producing a few small leaves again and I'm waiting to see what it is as the brassicas got mixed up when seed trays collapsed due to kitten attack and were randomly reinstate 

Leeks are bent double and look done to me and I reckon the calabrese has had it too but a good half of the bed is still under snow so there is more to see when the thaw completes )

thanks for asking

[Anke]

I harvested my leeks, which also had been covered under snow for over a month. They were fine, I also discovered a whole row of forgotten carrots. They have got some frost, but taste very sweet, and the goats love them too. My cabbages however (they were autumn ones anyway, just didn't get them out in time) are gone, but the hens will still peck them enthusiastically.

My parsnips have not grown well at all this year, I think they got a virus, the leaves started to shrivel in the late summer aready, only tiny roots.

[Fleecewife]

Hi Anke.  It might have been carrot root fly in your parsnips - try cutting one in half to have a look, if you haven't chucked them out yet.

[Fleecewife]

Having survived all that snow, my extra tall purple sprouting broccoli is now all dead.  Looks as if the prolonged wet after the snow has finally done for it.  Sprouts, kale, cabbages and a different variety of PSB are all ok - I will not be growing 'Lancer' again grrr.