Help what do I do now?

As a Cauliflower and Broccoli "virgin" I'm not sure what to do next. I have grown about 2 dozen Caulis (probably my favourite veg) and similar number Brocolli.
I have grown them in the greenhouse and they are now in 2 ltr pots still in the greenhouse. I have been hardening them off in this glorious weather and plan to plant them out next week. Snag is that they are somewhat leggy and I am NOT staking them!
Can I plant them deep a la the likes of Tomatoes as I think the stems on some will snap in any strongish wind and doubt they'd take the weight of big (hopefully) flowers.
This is all the fault of @wiseowl ! as he posted a photo of a glorious Cauliflower last year which spurred me on.
Also not sure what, if anything to feed. The ground has had plenty of mare's best and I'll scatter some Growmore over the area once you lot can tell me if my efforts are worth planting! I've also firmed the ground as sure read somewhere they like quite firm growing medium? I am presuming Brocolli likes similar....hope so. Also do I feed the likes of Phostrogen when watering. I have that or Chempack Tom food as an alternative. I'm not buying anything else as have loads of both. Sure someone will be able to advise. I hope I can plant deep otherwise it looks like they are compost bound!

 

They don't look too leggy to me Silu.

Wouldn't generally plant them deep, but you might get away with it.

If the ground is fertile I wouldn't bother with anything other than a trace element feed, think Calies need Boron.

 

Oh good, many thanks Zigs and JWK, I have so much to learn about veg growing, great that there are knowledgeable folk to help out the L platers. Looks like Cauliflower cheese may still be on the menu! Think I will plant them a bit deep if you don't think they might get stem rot by doing so. They took off when I repotted them into some of my home made compost mixed with a bit of old manure. I'm almost at the machete stage trying to move about the greenhouse! There is a chance of a frost on Saturday night but after that it looks as tho it will be cooler/cloudy so little chance of that damned thing beginning with F! so many things will be planted out then.

 

No worries Silu

They'll probably need some netting to keep the pigeons off while they're small and deffo need some netting against the cabbage butterflies

Make some collars out of old carpet or lino about 9 inches square, with a slit halfway leading to a stem size hole in the middle. You put them round the base to keep the cabbage root fly from digging down.

Humans like Brassicas, but so does everything else

 

Gawd and Bennett, buying in future from Tescos is beginning to look somewhat attractive. I've got miles of pea netting will that do @Zigs?... maybe not strong enough as we do a very good line in Antonovs (what we call the massive Wood Pigeons which seem to like our wee wood). The bu..ers could probably scoff the lot in a day. Then I suppose they get tangled in the netting and need rescuing? that's if they haven't been slaughtered by Pancake and Bella our 2 killing machine cats! which maybe rather smart pedigree cats but when it comes to killing just about anything that moves they'd put most moggies to shame. Do have some rotten old carpet which was destined for the bonfire so will chop that up and make collars. Thank you so much for the info. This is all news to me. If the Pea netting is a no go what kind do I need to source? At this rate I have a feeling my Braissicas are going to cost me more than if I'd shop bought. Oh well it will be "fun" trying to fend off all and sundry. I've always maintained gardening isn't that easy!

 

Hi Silu, I bought some cheap curtain netting at the fabric shop and put this around a frame, the top of the frame has a covering of small mesh netting so I can water. All this is held on the frame by clothes pegs as I couldn't find anything else that would work.

 

Pea netting will probably do, make sure the plants aren't touching the netting, you could put upturned yoghurt pots on sticks to support it.

Pity we don't still have those plastic tags that used to seal loaves of sliced bread, they still got them in Australia, on the forums over there they stick one on each plant as they look like cabbage whites and the real butterflies won't land on a plant that's already got one on.

 

Ebay Australia? Maybe they have heard of the world shortage and will sell them on

 

Many thanks @shiney, these look a great idea. Very kind of you to assist despite me not liking too many variegated plants. The area I'm going to be having the Cauliflowers and Brocolli is roughly 5ftx20ft. I will use the pea mesh as bought miles if it. Any idea how often I'd need to put in cane supports so know how many of these thingies to get?

 

I was wondering, could I use fleece instead of pea netting? Less likely to get birds caught in it. I have a big roll of it so there would be enough. If I had it pulled tight it will let rain through or I could just take it off to water. It does restrict the light but only very marginally. If pea netting is better than so be it.

 

Fleece would be even better, I've seen small cabbage whites circle over netted cabbages, then just at the right moment they shut their wings and drop straight thru on of the holes