Info from THE KITCHEN GARDEN GROWERS' GUIDE (Amazon) Broccoli: Germination soil temperature: 50°-85°F, optimum 77°F Days to germination: 7-10 Sow indoors: 6-8 weeks before last frost Soil pH: 6.0-6.8 Growing soil temperature: 65°-75°F Spacing of plants: 14-18 inches in all directions Soil prepartation: Broccoli prefers humus rich, moist well-drained soil. Early season crops do best in sandy loam, loam or silt loam. Change planting location annually to avoid soil nitrogen depletion. Add compost to soil before planting. Apply two light application of blood and bone meal, or liquid fertilizer during the growing season. Here is a link that might be useful: HarvestToTable.com

I've always heard that Bt is the solution. Or kittens (they chase the moths and eat them) You can also do "minister of death" patrol and squash the little yellow eggs on the undersides of the leaves. Planting very early helps too -- since kole crops are frost hardy, you can plant early (I sometimes plant seedlings the first week of April in Zone 5, and cover with some AG fleece until things warm up a little). Probably too late to start seedlings from seed now for a really early start, but maybe you can find seedlings to buy at the end of March (I sometimes drive to a slightly warmer area--as in south or lower elevation-- to get seedlings as early as I want them) If you use netting, obviously it has to be very small openings, and no gaps. Those moths will find any little slit to get through -- I've watched them! I've been known to go running around my yard with a butterfly net catching the moths. I don't recommend this, as more moths just fly in, and it looks very silly. Good luck-- I hope it works for you this year! Elisa

I was in your position 3 years ago when we bought this house, with almost no yard. "food not lawns" is a big movement, as is edible landscaping, but the thing that took me from never having gardening experience to growing lots of food in an attractive manner on very little land, was the Square Foot Garden method. Also do a search on this site for "front yard potager" and you will see one woman's front yard suburban edible paradise, which should be an inspiration to all. Looks like a modified SFG to me but how wonderful. Anyway, this is my 3rd growing season, and I'm so glad I started with SFG. Although I would use coconut coir instead of peat in the soil mix, from environmental concerns if I were starting out today. With the SFG, it's easy to visualize and plan, a hand trowel is the only tool needed, and after the planting is done, it's almost no work. Very little weeding, and I get to go out in the afternoons and early evenings, just joying in it. Or with a basket over one arm, browse and pick what's for supper. It was the greatest, like my own fresh grocery aisle right there. This year I am branching out on a relative's land, planting asparagus, strawberries, and lots of cabbages, brussels sprouts, rutabagas and sunchokes, and other things like rhubarb and horseradish, that take up space, because we are building a root cellar to hold "winter keepers" so we can extend the $$ we save on groceries throughout the year. But that SFG wrapping around the outside perimeter of my tiny bit of green is a pleasure that my daughter enjoyed as a toddler, and will be helping me to plant this year, at 4. The neighborhood kids always come around, curious about it, and I show them how things grow and pick little samples for them. Their mothers would probably be amazed that they will eat raw snowpeas and sugar snap peas, pod and all, if it's part of a neat experience like that. As for season extending, this year is the first I will be trying "hoop houses" using PEX (crossed polyethylene) pipes rather than the PVC which is so bad environmentally, to curve over my raised beds and throw plastic over in the early season, then mesh to keep pests off (taking it off for pollination of course) or adding a little shade for certain things in the hot season. So that's a new learning curve for me. The SFG website has pics of my SFG in Maine (I am still the only Maine entry in the neighborhood gardens section) from that first year, so I welcome you to come check it out at: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Square foot garden website, official

We live in the northern county of San Diego in an area adjacent to chaparral. I've seen coyotes, squirrels, bunnies, hawks, gopher (yes, I actually saw the gopher - but my husband took care of that - RIP), and I understand there are owl boxes courtesy of our HOA. The bunnies are eating my husband's lawn (and sometimes my plants). The squirrels come in to eat too. The hills are dry this time of year, but we have kept our lawn and plants watered, making them yummy meals for the critters. We finished putting up some kind of fencing we were told is used to keep bunnies out. Ironically, the bunnies chewed through the fence where the back gate goes out to the wildlands - or from the wildlands into our backyard. A perfectly sized hole with nice little bits of fence scattered around the wrought iron gate. Although I did have to chuckle about it, we did work hard putting up that fence in the hottest part of the year. The rabbits were probably laughing too (rightly so - what a couple of dingdongs we are). Now my husband wants to shoot those bunnies with a pellet gun (he'd rather use something bigger, but I don't think that's legal - I'm not sure killing rabbits is legal in our area). I can understand his frustration, but I'm glad to see all the postings - you have my sincere appreciation - and will ask him to help me out with the bloodmeal and/or ammonia. I'll let you know whether it works for us or not. If those things don't work and I can't convince my husband to replace that fencing with something more sturdy, I'm afraid the rabbits will be meeting the gopher's demise. By the way, we did try other methods to deter the gopher (hair in the tunnel, plugging the tunnel) - then I read several posts and determined there was only one way to take care of the gopher; it was not the way I wanted, but the last resort. Best to all and your yards/gardens.