Thanks for your replies! With 150+ plants, are you selling them or do you just have a big family? I don't want it to all come in at once but my kids will eat broccoli or cauliflower almost daily. I'm wondering how to space out my planting next season. I now know to plant my seeds earlier for this crop. I am keeping a journal to record planting dates of both seed and plants and I've starting taking pictures, I'll get one of my broccoli and cabbage tomorrow and figure out how to post a picture. I hope that keeping a journal of my screw-ups will help me. I only used the plastic for three days, they germinated that quickly. Now my problem is that...well, I have several. I wasn't sure what temp to keep the new seedlings at so I left them in the heat for a few days before realizing it was too hot. Currently we are having warm sunny days but my sunroom only gets sun in the afternoon. I've turned the A/C back on because I assumed I needed a 70 degree temp or lower. It would be too hot outside for baby plants in GA right now, wouldn't it? Am I correct to try for 70 degrees? I used the baking soda/water that someone mentioned (thanks so much!) and wiped the mold off the pots with my hands. I went ahead and thinned them which let me remove the molded seedlings and keep the healthy seedlings. Now they have grown and they don't look right at all, the stems are too long. I got the idea they were reaching for sunlight? It just seems weird to see cabbage and broccoli with long stems, even as seedlings(I threw the cauliflower away, it had the most mold). Why do they have long stems as seedlings? I also planted some(broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) outside and they haven't come up as of yet. I read that the soil temp needs to be around 65 and it's hot here suddenly so have I wasted the seeds or do I wait? The ones in the sunroom, I can't take them outside, it's too hot (I think, but I may be wrong, please correct me if I am). I liked the idea of starting them outside in the shade. I need to stop trying to turn my sunroom into a greenhouse :( . I'm seeing that in the fall, it may not be necessary. Grandad, Do you grow these same crops in the spring? If yes, how do you start them then? Thanks for all the advice about peat pots! I like the idea of saving the money and using the little trays instead.

they are a tropical plant.. that should answer all your basic ???'s ... they can not take frost .. they can not take freeze ... and they they have a minimum winter storage temps.. or they rot ... and most likely have a min soil temp before growth starts ... though they might rot in cold soil.. long before it warms enough ... so they can not go outside for good.. until all frost or freeze issues are past ... whether you carry them in or out depending on weather is up to you ... it only takes one night of forgetting to mess that plan up.. trust me.. been there .. done that .. lol .. if it were me.. with frost potential until late may.. i might not start them too early .... they can be held dormant for another couple weeks ... if you store them like a potato ... whether or not they will winter over in the garage is up to your local min temps... again.. think potato [could you store those outside all winter in your microclimate???] ... they would prefer a damp/dark root cellar.. which nobody has anymore.. good luck ken ps: i used to cut mine and use them at Halloween as corn stalks type decorations ...

Since nobody's answered you, I'll try a guess. I think as long as you don't have frosts they'd be okay outside now, and baskets would be fine. Don't know how long your growing season is--I asked my sister in z3/4 Montana how long her growing season is, and she said 'what growing season?'--so if you get frost in any month maybe not. They grow pretty fast once they get started though, so you may be pleasantly surprised. Good luck!

Claire, I wouldn't cover those iris. They might be OK in this dry weather but if we get rain they'll hate being covered with set stuff. The weather probably won't get really cold until Dec. The iris will be established well enough by then. I posted a question about how late to plant iris on the iris forum, hoping that Walter Moores would answer it since he lives in zone 7/8 in MS, but he hasn't been on the board the last few days. Mike of Garden of Mu lives in zone 7/8 on the west coast and he says he's moved iris at all times of the year. I'm supposed to get iris in a trade soon and this will be the latest I've moved them, we'll see. I might also get a few more iris from DH's grandmother's old house before her place is sold in Dec. and everything is bulldozed for new superexpensive housing. If those iris don't make it they were going to be lost anyway. They'll probably be OK however. That's one of the problems with mulch; if you do mulch it does keep many seeds from germinating the next year. I don't cover green plants with mulch, I either wait until they die down completely or just mulch around them.