Thanks, everyone! vrkelley, I've got Romanesco and Waltham broccoli and Violetta Italia and Snowball Self-Blanching cauliflower. I started the seeds on 3/20, so that's been...74 days already? Give or take. Different sites do seem to give different ranges--some say 75 days for one type, but then others say 65-99 days. Hmph! I need someone with a crystal ball! It has actually been quite chilly here, so I don't think temps have been a problem yet, but they will get to be a problem soon! If the maturity dates are from transplant to eat, then yes, I do have more time. Most sites I've seen have said something like, "Start indoors 8 weeks before last frost; transplant outdoors 4-5 weeks before last frost." Our last frost date is typically around 5/15, and I put them out on 4/20, so yes, a tiny bit late. I'm partly anxious because this is my first gardening attempt and I'm dying to eat my produce, and I'm also thinking that if they're not going to produce, I could pull them and plant something that might. Then again, part of the appeal of gardening is that plants care naught for the hectic pace of our busy lives, right? :-) Thank you for your help!

Thanks. I just did some work in the garden and looked at them closely. The cauliflower do have some tiny heads starting, about the size of a nickle to a quarter, one broccoli has one dime sized. I've seen one cabbage moth, hopefully the DE I put on them will help keep the Caterpillars from coming to destroy them and I have some Safer insecticide if I start seeing them. They ate them all up last time I tried. I'm not able to find BT anywhere around here and I really don't like using chemicals if I can help it. So, thanks for the ideas and I'll be patient!

One usually knows if there's EXCESS nitrogen in their soil because it's usually the person fertilizing that adds too much. How have you fertilized and with what? I've had broccoli and especially cauli take forever to start heading and usually it was a hot spell that kicked them into gear. As long as the plants were big, I smiled...because I knew i was going to get some great heads. It's a bit easier to grow heading brassicas out here in the spring than a lot of the country though. I notice that once it starts to heat up in many parts of the country, it's pretty damn quick and it STAYS warm. Here --- it's a gradual warm up with an occasional hot spell lasting a few days. Heavy mulch will definitely help regulate those soil temps though. Kevin

I don't know what that lady is talking about or doing. And I grow plenty of broccoli. While I've gotten 2 main heads off the same plant before, it isn't a common thing. And why she let's it flower is even more puzzling -- those flowers are most likely coming out of side shooting florets and stalks; sometimes nice sized side shoots. Here's how i grow my Broccoli in very dry SoCal-- Start seeds indoors in a week or 2 from now so that transplants get out in Late August. Start a few more a couple weeks after the first so I don't have all my main heads coming in all at once. Basically, I want to have all my transplants in the ground by Mid Nov. I've tried in Dec and Jan and it's no problem -- i just notice once we start losing TOO much daylight, growth is slowed and heads are smaller. Hopefully, by late Nov/Dec, we start getting some rain to really help with the water bill. I sometimes start some more to go out late Jan/feb for Spring growing. I then harvest the side shoots for MONTHS after I harvested the main heads -- still harvesting side shoots from last fall and winter's plantings. I only let them go this long though if they're picking up water from my warm season crops waterings -- otherwise i pull them... not worth the water. But one can have a nice supply of broccoli throughout a good part of the year here and not spend a ton on water -- especially with proper mulching. Regarding freezes -- i don't know exactly where you're at uscjusto, but broccoli holds up to frost pretty well, and could probably endure hard freezes if you mulch and those freezes aren't for extended periods of time. Also, Another MAIN head in the fall??? Maybe just a much larger than normal side shoot. I get 'em. Kevin This post was edited by woohooman on Tue, Jul 2, 13 at 14:52