Sue, Been there, done that! I have grown broccoli for many years. I used to buy plants and was limited to what the greenhouses had. When I lost the ability to buy green comet I then switched to seeds. I now grow spring planted broccoli and mid summer planted for fall harvest. I could, and probably will, say a lot about this! my recommendation to you is to buy seeds of calabrese green sprouting italian (cgsi). Many stores sell the seeds and catalogs as well. This is an excellent variety tho it is a late variety. Due to the lateness, 82 days to maturity (dtm), I also grow an early variety that has a 50 or 60 dtm. Early dividend is my early variety tho this spring I'm going to switch to de cicco to see how it does in the spring. Not impressed with it's fall production. I don't like packman (very well liked), it's the only variety that has given me trouble. Tried de cicco for fall harvest last summer, the side shoots were almost nil and head size was small. Perhaps as a spring variety it would do better, not for fall for me, cut the head and done. So buy plants or start seeds of an early variety and either pull them after the main head matures (about 7/4) or keep them for side shoot production. early dividend has good side shoot production all year. Broccoli is fussy about when to start and put out in the spring, if it's too cold or too hot it can ruin head formation. Broccoli is a heavy feeder so it needs fertilization too. Summer heat is not broccoli's friend but it will survive in full sun all day if you water it and do quite well. The hotter it is the more often you water. Here's why I recommend cgsi. The main heads are large. Now most broccoli grows shoots, mini heads, but they are small and you can spend 5 minutes cutting 2 handfuls of side shoots. In august I can't justify baking in the sun for that. In the fall the side shoot production goes up and you need to cut a lot more. Cgsi grows large side shoots, like mini heads, but not tons of them. Very reasonable production even in the heat of summer and you spend a minute or two cutting side shoots from 6 plants not 30 minutes fussing with those mini shoots! While I have grown cgsi for a few years, this summer cemented it as the best to grow. This past summer in august we had texas heat and mississippi humidity, it was brutal. My cgsi broccoli just thrived! In the past, my broccoli plants wilted severely or died but I was not watering them enough I know realize. After the main heads were cut side shoot production, even thru 95-103 degree days with 80-82 degree nights and dew points of 78-79, was the best I ever had. Why? I watered. In that intense heat I gave each plant 7/10 ths to 1 1/2 gallons of water each evening about 4 pm, morning may have been better but I work. My well thru my hose gives 1 gallon in 10 seconds so if I counted to 7 that was 7/10ths of a gallon. I do not mulch broccoli it attracts slugs. I had 2 plants that went bad in may, shriveled leaves, no stalk formation, they looked terrible. One died, I just ignored the other. By late june it actually started to grow lots of leaves and by mid august 3 separate plants were growing in that 1 spot, huge plants, each bigger than any cgsi I ever saw by 33%! These 3 made the other cgsi look smallish. They (the 3) produced vast amounts of broccoli after the main heads that were immense but thru that time the spring planted plants also produced very large shoots with 3"-4" heads too! So don't believe that broccoli is just for spring or fall. Cgsi does well here and you are basically where I am. Having different varieties with different dtm will spread the harvest but just so much. Typically dtm is 45-85. this is why I recommend cgsi, those large and prolific side shoots, mini heads 3" sometimes 4" in diameter, spread the harvest. Starting from seed requires lights. This can be as simple as 1 4' 2 tube shop light fixture with 2 99 cent tubes or a $800 plant stand with lights. Whatever route, you must keep the plants, any plants not just broccoli, within 2" of the tubes so you have to be able to either adjust the fixture or the plants to maintain the correct distance. Lights on 16 hours per day no more no less. Broccoli seed should be started so that 5-6 week old seedlings (no younger no older) can go out 2 weeks before your last frost date for spring planting. For me that's 5/31 (last frost date) so mine go out 5/15 so I start my seeds 4/1. for summer plants/fall harvest I time the dtm (harvest for mid to late sept) plus seed starting so I have 5 week old plants and plant on that day. Broccoli will grow up to thanksgiving but the reduced light will greatly diminish growth, my point broccoli as a mature plant tolerates freezing well. Broccoli is sweeter after several frosts. I would not recommend direct seeding in summer tho I have never done it. The reason is the soil is just plain hot, very hot. All my fall crops (cabbage, broccoli, kale, even rutabagas in peat pots you can't disturb their roots) are started inside where it is cooler in july and august. I did direct seed carrots for the 1st time on 8/1 last year with good results but they must be kept damp by covering with burlap or boards. Even in the spring, carrots are hard to germinate and that trick works then too. But I suggest starting your broccoli inside about 7/1 to 7/7 put out about 8/5 to 8/15. any later and you may run out of growing season. The interesting thing I found with july started broccoli last year is that even tho I was pushing the envelope with my dates (cgsi is 82 dtm while the de cicco package says 48-80 dtm that spread is absurd and both varieties went out the same day), the cgsi broccoli seemed to know that the days were shortening and actually produced heads a lot earlier than the stated dtm! I picked the de cicco at about 50 days and the cgsi was about 10 days later - far less than expected. You learn something new each season. tom

Yes the white Cauliflower head does need to be protected or they will brown in the sun. I ordered some Cheddar cauliflower from Johnny's this year and the head is orange and does not require the blanching. The DTMs listed for veggies that are typically transplanted like Broccoli and Cauliflower are from transplant. Peter - Sarah's Choice has fairly short vines compared to pumpkins and watermelons that I have grown....maybe 10' max. I'm going to plant 3 hills in a 4x8 bed and they will probably spill out into the paths a little. The first time I planted them I put 5 seeds in a 3x3 bed and got about 15 nice melons and the critters got a few to boot. Put some on your list for next year!

Just thought I'd post the results I had in one garden bed that's clay-loam. Last year I had amended this bed with home-made compost. Everything did well last year as first year plantings. This year they suffered from too little light. (I just put the roses there to get them through the winter and hoping they might like the eastern exposure. Heathcliff, Sugar Moon and Falstaff like sun in my neck of the woods, it seems. I'll probably be moving the viking Queen next Spring as she's a fraction of the size of her sister in full sun, and hasn't bloomed since Spring while her sister would be non-stop if not for the midge.) Anyway, the soil was very dry even with rain. I thought the heavy leaf layer prevented water. I stuffed the empty holes with alfalfa hay, compost and leaf mold until I decided what to plant. I also put the alfalfa under the leaves in the rest of the bed and gave it additional compost. Wow, when I went to plant Lavender Lassie and two hydrangeas, all the soil was so soft and fluffy and moist, even though we had less rain that earlier. I'm now prepping my holes in advance of next Spring and filling them with the same and covering the entire bed with alfalfa hay, etc. The new plantings have taken off even in the reduced light of late summer. I repeated this in another new bed and Mme Alfred Carriere and Awakening seem to love it even in their NE exposure. (Of course, they could just be responding to being in the ground vs. in pots. : ) ) Lesson learned. : ) I'm also trying gypsum on some new beds I'm prepping since they're on an incline. I'll report back.

It might help to read Eliot Coleman's books on season extending techniques. I have a high tunnel (plastic covered/wood frame) and it is amazing how warm it gets during the day when the sun is out. What I have learned is the soil inside doesn't freeze even though outside it might be zero degrees and it gets zero degrees inside at night. From the list that another poster provided, those are cold hardy plants that can take some cold temperature extremes. Local farmers start using supplemental heat when they want an early tomato crop but they don't try to grow tomatoes all year. You also need to understand that during the darkest winter days, plants aren't getting enough sunlight so they tend to stop growing. Eliot calls this the Persephone Period. Depending on what you are trying to grow you might need both heat and light. (New local hydroponic greenhouses are using a lot of light.) Local market gardeners provide extra cold protection for their plants by using Agribon. I managed to keep rosemary alive for two winters here in zone 5 NH by swaddling the plant with Agribon, removing it in the spring. By providing enough cold protection you can probably grow spinach in the winter but not lettuce. I have had lettuce roots survive and start growing in the spring. Kale, coriander, and claytonia might die but seed and/or roots survive to start growing in the spring. Keep in mind that even snow provides some insulation. Johnny's Seeds website might also have some helpful information about when to sow plants for fall/winter and when to sow in the spring for earliest crops.