Being the onions are sprouting in one area only and lettuce pieces are starting to come to light, I'll average my temp is near 50 degrees. It's going to snow a few flakes tonight, so I'm putting a tarp over them, with 50 degree weather through out the following day. My yard stays green all year almost even rye grass never turned brown. I know it's not an evergreen, the clovers are still green, the hill I planted on is very high, maybe it gets more heat? I may have planted too deep, I'll wait for one more week, but next week I will replant if nothing else. The carrots should have peaked out, so maybe their is something wrong. It was so pretty outside, I thought I could get away with planting early. Root crops can grow all year round, so I'm not afraid for the turnips, carrots, and onions. I'll try to sprout them inside on paper towels or coffee filters next time, maybe do as the packets suggest by soaking them in water for 24 hours would have been better. I'll be watching for something until Thursday, then I'll start them in an inside garden on paper towels. Thanks for the input.

Yes, yes, more people should let cabbage do its cut-and-come again thing. I find it works best with the spring crop, so I run some of my cabbages very early. Three little varieties I like, Gonzales, Pixie and Alcosa savoy, all do a good job producing secondary heads. I grow them twice a year, spring and fall. Once summer gets hot, I've seen forgotten cabbage stubs develop secondary heads on the stem just below the ground, like blanched brussels sprouts encrusted with dirt. Like you, I grew cabbage for years before discovering this easy trick. Here is a link that might be useful: cut and come again cabbage

Hi Prairie_north: Very pretty bloom on your mini-rose. Thank you for the l info. that cracked corn changed from pink (acidic) to purple (neutral) fast. I'm happy with cracked corn in the planting hole (did that last year), so is Momscottagegarden (clay soil). I like what you wrote: "The bed around it was originally amended with peat moss, and has cedar shavings on top. Today I pushed the shavings away, dug up the soil around it, put down some sheep manure, and red lava rock." Peat moss mixed with clay becomes hardened a year later. Cedar shavings is acidic (pH 4) that would leak acid down when it rains (pH of rain is 5.6). Since mini-rose is own-root, the roots are nearer the surface, and is sensitive to acid leaching down. Own-roots do best with organic fertilizer, since it's nearer the surface ... some are wimpy like alfalfa sprouts, versus big-woody-bush-trunk Dr. Huey. Red lava rock is a strong buffer at pH 8. I mulched roses with that during our wet months .. kept roses clean. Blooming takes up lots of potassium & calcium to make those firm petals. After blooming, potassium and calcium are both depleted, plus rain leaches out potassium & calcium & trace elements. Red-lava rock in the planting hole, plus on top provide a continuous supply of potassium to prevent diseases, plus more blooms. Calcium is a strong buffer: I use that in many ways: as granular gypsum (calcium sulfate) to break up clay. If it rains a lot, I put gypsum on top of red-lava-rock. But for Dr. Huey-rootstock, I put dolomitic lime on top, since Dr. Huey likes it alkaline. Best ratio in hydroponics setting is equal nitrogen to potassium, 1/2 phosphorus, and 1/2 calcium. I burnt a few own-roots with either salty manure in hot weather, or high-phosphorus fertilizer like bone meal. My best result in hot weather is alfalfa hay for nitrogen. Timothy hay is much softer, easier to mulch .. that's what I plan to test next. I got amazing result mulching with alfalfa hay in hot weather, best nitrogen-source ever, which beat anything I tested: blood meal, compost, Milorganite, alfalfa pellets, alfalfa meal, corn meal. The problem with alfalfa in smaller particles: they gunk up on top, either souring, or hardening clay further. Alfalfa hay is fluffy, which cools and shade the roots in hot sun, plus it's a strong buffer: neutralize both acidic rain, and alkaline tap water.

Floral - where was your 'heat wave' when the Open Championship was being played? I am sure the golfers would have preferred the heat to having to ware long undies and sweaters :-). I grew some Cauliflower and Broccoli for my brother in Minnesota and gave them to him at 16 days old on our visit over July 4 weekend. He just planted them out July 16 and they are having some 90+ heat as well. If you can rig up some shade for them for the first couple weeks it would help them acclimate better and do keep well watered. I have some Brussels Sprouts that were planted July 16 and we are seeing 97+ all week here in Missouri. I have some shade cloth on hoops over them and am watering daily via soaker hoses. The older leaves are droopy and not looking so good but the newer, younger leaves are nice and perky.