Very exciting! Broccoli is one of my all time favorite veggies. Mine came up but didn't make it, but perhaps it's just as well, as there's not much room in my garden. Let us know how it tastes once you harvest them.

I'm in 7b, Metro Atlanta area. May not be as cool as Blue Ridge area, but I think we are maybe just a little cooler than usual this season so may be comparable. Anyway... I planted Goliath this year also. I planted the broccoli in two stages. Several of the later plants transplanted end Sept. are just beginning to form heads. I was about to give up hope for them. In my case I think reduced sunshine as the sun changed angles with the fall season affected the plants. Most trees lost their leaves a couple weeks ago so the garden is getting more sun and now heads are forming. This is the first time I have grown broccoli. I think in Georgia it doesn't get "really" cold, so broccoli will head up in what we call late fall early winter. It has for me anyway. Hope this helps.

Hi Terri, Ok, I'm glad you know what I mean. Often people save the seeds not realizing that sometimes they never got fertilized. It is odd too, some varieties seem to have lots of ripe seeds while others have hardly any. I just collected seeds of one variety that blooms fairly early. I'm watching another that blooms a bit later. They are almost ready. My sweet autumn is just a baby, so I don't know about it in particular. Remy

Fraid you've got me confused with someone else re building a barn on the property and living in that while building the house. DH and I bought our land by refinancing the house we then owned in order to pay cash for the land b/c mortgage interest rates on the refinance were MUCH lower than interest rates on a raw land mortgage. We then spent five years paying down the refinanced mortgage before felt financially ready to start building. We finished paying off our mortgage on the first house while we were in the process of building the second. So even tho we weren't able to sell our first house as quickly as we would have liked after moving into the new dream home, we never had to worry about making two mortgage payments at the same time. I was terribly impatient during that entire five years to just "get started" but in fact, the wait gave me plenty of time to educate myself and to design a home that FITS our property and our lifestyle. So, IMHO, you can't start too soon. Yes, prices will change but the relative cost to build various houses will stay about the same. (i.e., if the build price on plan A is twice the build price of plan B today, five years from now, plan A is still going to cost about twice as much to build as plan B.) Instead of obsessing about costs tho, use your time to learn all you can about the pros/cons of various building practices. For example, while it isn't exciting, spend some time learning about various types of foundations and how each type is PROPERLY INSTALLED as well as all the ways a particular type of foundation can be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Then when you're choosing a house plan, you can make an informed decision about what type of foundation you want. Ditto with framing. Learn as much as you can about how a house is framed up and some of the options you have. Terms like "open web joists," "i-beam joists," "California corners," "sole plate," "king stud," "cripple/jack stud," "ridge pole," "purlin," and "load bearing" should become familiar to you as you learn how framing should be done right and all the ways that bad builders can screw it up. Likewise, get a thorough grasp of the concept of "drainage planes" and how flashing, house wraps, claddings, etc. SHOULD be installed in order to contribute to properly functioning drainage planes. Basically, work your way thru every "system" within a house. The more you understand about how a properly designed and built house WORKS, the better off you'll be when dealing with a builder. Or, for that matter, when trying to communicate with your architect. And, of course spend time doing the fun stuff like thinking about how you and your family actually live. What in your current home makes your life easier and what are the little things that just drive you bonkers. Like maybe, you actually love having the sun wake you up in the mornings thru your east facing windows but hate the way everything always seems to wind up stacked on the dining room table b/c there isn't really any other place to drop stuff off as you come in the door. Or you love your big kitchen island but hate the the way your top kitchen drawers are half-an-inch too shallow to hold rolls of waxed paper and tinfoil. Make notes about these things and, when you're designing your new home, incorporate the good things and find ways to fix the annoying things. And of course, spend time finding and saving "inspiration" pictures for the really fun part which is decorating that brand new space! Three years will fly by!