Thanks Dave, thats good to know. I wont be able to put out my tomatoes till Mid May, so maybe I can still work them in, since the cabbage etc would be ready to pull shortly after. Could I have planted out the cabbage around end of march then since you planted out mid march? we have only had about a total of 6" of snow this winter, and its been in the 70's the last 2-3 weeks. this weeks lows are expected to be 63,40,38,41,46. Tammy

I'm still harvesting savoy cabbage, collards, Spigariello Liscia, and several varieties of kale. Late-planted broccoli and Romanesco cauliflower plants are still green but show no signs of producing heads. After a thaw this week, I pulled the last of this season's turnips, beets, parsley root, rutabaga, carrots, and potatoes; all but the potatoes were still showing some healthy green foliage. Berggarten Sage leaves are still healthy and green. Biggest surprise is still-healthy cilantro. We've had temps in mid-teens a couple of nights. Is the *clap clap* you smacking your hands together to warm them up? Or trying to wake up gardeners who might have gone to sleep for the winter? Or applauding the plants for surviving freezing weather?

I started a flat of cole crops first of july. I put them out in my Hoop house(which doesn't have the cover on in the summer)the first or second week of August. I did 2 kinds of sprouting broccoli, which are specifically bred to overwinter. You cut the head at the first sign of it, and they are supposed to sideshoot like mad real early in the spring and continue for some time. The seed pack had days to harvest as 220, reflecting the need to grow in summer, overwinter, then sprout through spring and into early summer. They are supposed to be extremely cold hardy, and if I remember they have some cross with kale in them. Kind of a commitment, but I'm going for winter/early spring harvests out of the hoophouse as much as possible. I also had January King cabbage in the same flat. The sprouting Broccoli plants are about 2 feet tall and wide, so they are big. The cabbage(again, a winter variety) is just starting to form heads now. They are also bigger plants than I was expecting. We have a few more days in the 80's, next week should be in the 60's for a high, and I doubt we will climb into the 70's much after the cold front comes through, so I will be covering soon. I was also thinking of putting in some fall clearance plants from the nursery, but I don't know that they will have enough time to mature into anything. My understanding is for the plants to be approaching maturity when the cold comes, and they grow under protection(slowly) throughout the cold winter and you harvest them as needed. Come spring warm up and longer photo-period, they start bolting. I dunnno, might try anyway. Check out Territorial Seed's winter growing catalog, there is some cool stuff in it, pun intended.

Bees, yes you leave an open hole. It is important that the hole be 3/4 to 7/8 inch diameter and just under 2 inches deep. You can whittle a stick or use the cut off end of a small broom handle of the appropriate size. There should be a thin layer of soil at the bottom of the hole, just enough for the seed to get started growing. When you drop the seed in the hole, you will be able to see it at the bottom of the hole. Leave it just like that. The hole maintains a humid environment just right for brassica seed to germinate. As the cotyledons expand, the plant will grow upward toward the light until it emerges above the soil. City, if you are having problems with damping off, verify that you are starting with sterilized seed start mix such as Promix BX. Watch carefully that you don't over-water. Phytothora and Rhyzoctonia thrive in very high moisture soils. Tomato and pepper seedlings in particular are susceptible to these soilborne diseases. Overwatering is the usual culprit. It is important with tomatoes and peppers to let the soil dry out until the seedlings start to wilt before watering. This will keep the damping off under control. Please note that this is not needed with brassicas. They are much more tolerant of soil moisture levels.