I have iceflowers growing, does that count? Wished it was broccoli, the one at the market looked so miserable, I went to the freezer section.

I have a bench of new loose leaf lettuce growing in a heated greenhouse, figured I may as well be picking fresh lettuce in this weather as buying it. We've been enjoying fresh salads for a few weeks now, and it's four degrees outside as I type. By the time I fill that greenhouse with spring plants for sale, it'll be time to plant the cool crops outside anyway.

Just lettuce and kale. Yep, the same kale plants that have been steadily producing for two years.

I hope to have broccoli next year... hope hope hope. One big thing I always do (for cabbages also) is surround each plant with either row cover or fine net (cheap sheer curtains also work well), buried in the ground and secured at the top; as soon as the plants are set out. I really hate finding worms in my food, and this area has more cabbage moths than butterflies.

Oh meldy,a light bulb moment. Your post reminds me that I have used nylon tulle to cover plants in the past. I bought it at the big W store for a few cents a yd.

Oooh, broccoli, sounds wonderful. Where you are, west_gardener, the weather can do amazing things. And with what is happening in Europe and England right now, your garden is really playing for drama.

Pidge, I live in Silicon Valley, CA. The valley has great growing weather for all kinds of veggies/flowers. However,this year we've had some unusual frost/rain/foggy days. One morning my plants felt and looked like ice sicles. I was afraid that I'd lose all of them to the frost. I lost my dill but all the others seems to be ok.

Yes I've seen the weather reports from Europe and England, and that's a cold scene and It looks like a lot of veggies will have to be imported this year.

There is a storm coming in and they say we could get about 4-5" of rain. I thought I'd show you my baby before it drowns.



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An update on the broccoli saga.



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That's just beautiful, West. Thanks for sharing.

Your broccoli is beautiful! I can imagine how good the soup tastes, too.

Thanks for your replies.Yum, in all kind of ways. Starting from a 4" pot plant to harvest, cooking and eating is very satisfying.

Re the soup, it was yummy. It's a broccoli/cheddar soup. I used the stalks to make the soup. I used fat free, 100% lactose free milk, three tbs of grated sharp cheddar cheese, put it all in my blender, and instant soup.

All in all, it has been a very worthwhile experiment.

BTW, I'm in the process of making a (very short, 5 frame) movie with music, of the broccoli saga for our 4yo grandson. He has seen the plant in the early stages, but I want him to see the process of planting to eating.

I love broccoli. We have some now in our elementary school garden, and it was fun to show the kids I teach (4 year olds, like your grandson) how it grows. They didn't know they had been eating flower buds!

Spring is coming to my winter garden in CA. My Broccoli is bolting. I've never seen that before. I sure enjoyed every aspect of this plant. I'm looking forward to spring planting and another round of winter planting.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Brocoli Saga.

I've planted a veggie garden for the first time ever this spring. Broccoli is doing great. Im getting nervous though because I've been hearing they don't do so well in the Texas heat. I've got 3 decent size crowns growing already, just wondering how much longer they will last.

Hi,chadquick. Congratulations on your first garden. I find it exciting to try something new and broccoli is new to me also.
This is what I've found out so far. Broccoli is a cool weather crop. (LOL, I had one plant,that was my crop). It produced some good size heads the first time around, the second crop was "puny" and after the second crop,the temp heated up, so the plant went into flowering mode (bolting) and I pulled it. So if you want to enjoy the taste of fresh broccoli, enjoy it now.

Hi Im pretty new to this site and was wondering what and how often to feed broccoli plants. Thats a wonderful plant that west gardner grew. My plants never look like that. Im starting to use compost and compost teas, tryin to stay away from commercial fertilizers

Hi SLIMGOODY, welcome to the garden party.That was the first time I planted broccoli, so it was an experiment. I never fed the plants anything, I just made sure they were watered.

I think your thinking about using compost is right on. I used 1/3 garden soil, 1/3 compost, 1/3 potting soil and the plants did very well. From time to time I added a little compost to the soil around the plants, and watered it in.