Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

[tbow388]

Okay ladies, gentlemen. And all else in between. I have had my broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower in the ground for 2 weeks. They are on average 6" tall. It is supposed to be cold the next few days down close to 20' at night. Do I need to cover them or should they be okay?

 

[tbow388]

Del, what about cardboard boxes? I have a lot of access to them.

 

[tbow388]

Well I ended up cardboardless. I ended up using some super thick material and tented the rows.
It ended up getting down to 17 degrees. Went out this morning and the plants were frozen stiff.
Should I just replant?

 

[tbow388]

This was a pretty odd cold snap. Of course this year has been the coldest that I remember.
My garden is pretty protected from wind. Wood stacks on north side, viney - tree covered west side. It won't be too bad if I have to replant. I only have 36 plants out.

Ill take your advice and wait a week to see how they look. I have time to replant if needed.

 

[tbow388]

I figure it is time to buy another flat and replant. The cauliflower looks dead, the broccoli looks half dead ad the cabbage is yet to be determined.
Now it got down to 20 last night and 22 tonight. Won't get much past freezing today.

I guess you win sometimes and you lose sometimes.

 

[chuckwood]

If you do get to 20°F you will likely lose some plants.
Plastic nursery pots make nice covers.

Here in TN its going to be down to 23 degrees this coming Tuesday nite. I have cabbage and broccoli plants out there in the ground. What I use is large styrofoam drinking cups for covers. If there is any wind, they will blow away so I place stones on top of them to help hold them down. Styrofoam is a good insulator and the cups are very cheap. This works well when the plants are still small. What I'm dreading is another bad "polar vortex" coming in during mid april after my beans and corn are up and ruining it all.

 

[tbow388]

I don't have enough pots. I might try some plastic furniture bags placed over wire domes. A tunnel sort of thing.

My plants are 10" tall now. I hope I don't lose them again.

At this point I am frustrated and thinking I should not have planted early. I gues replacing 30 plants isn't too bad. Just frustrating!!!

 

[tbow388]

I won't give up on it. I just tried to get a head start and it hasn't paid off. AT least it won't be 17 tonight. I know the 17 kills the califlower.

Now you know why I don't go to casinos!!!!!

 

[tbow388]

Well I think I lucked out last night. It only got to 28º.

I was welding on a finishing mower for a friend and got home pretty darn late and really tired so I did not cover them.
I have a good feeling that I didn't lose any plants.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I wish I felt bad for your loss...but in all honesty I don't. I still have nearly 2' of snow covering my garden and this morning I woke to a balmy -6 degrees...yes NEGATIVE 6.

Yes your right I'm very jealous that you all are planting!!!! Lucky me I'm still burning wood to keep the house warm...so you all should be pretty envious that I'm cutting wood!

 

[tbow388]

Oh, I've been cutting wood too.

It's twice as big now.

 

[chuckwood]

BTW, these are great fall crops, too!

Cabbage and broccoli planted for a fall crop always work better for me because then I don't have to deal with all the green caterpillars that result
from the small white butterflies you'll see dancing around your plants later in spring and early summer. Dusting or spraying all the time with BT or
pyrethrins is another boring chore, and even though those pesticides are organic based, I still prefer not to eat them. I certainly try to avoid eating Sevin,
although I have used the stuff sparingly when I need to get out the big guns. Fall crops generally don't have pest problems. If you plan on freezing a lot
of the broccoli anyway, a fall crop is easier. I'm a year-round kraut eater and make my own, so I grow cabbage in spring and fall. They ain't nuthin' better
than home made kraut, and the stuff has lots of probiotics in it that's good for you. It's easy to make.

 

[tbow388]

I havent had luck with the fall crops. I froze a bunch of broccoli last year and am just eating the last of it. I keep the plants after the big head and cut all the florets.

The BT worked great last year. I am going to try neem oil for the whole garden this year. Anyone have experiance with it?

I LOVE kraut!!! How do you make your kraut? Maybe post a kraut making thread.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

This is why I NEVER plant early, I'm never in a hurry to plant my veggie plants... I don't want to have to worry about that early cold weather. So what if I'm a week or two later picking, at least it's not so much work to get there.

SR

 

[chuckwood]

The BT worked great last year. I am going to try neem oil for the whole garden this year. Anyone have experiance with it?
I LOVE kraut!!! How do you make your kraut? Maybe post a kraut making thread.

Never tried neem oil, it's more expensive than BT. I wish rotenone was still easily available. How I do kraut? I can't go into all the details, it would be too long. There's lots of kraut making procedures on the web that work well. I harvest during the dark of the moon period, somehow there is less chance of having a batch spoil then. The moon phase seems to be related to the amount of water that will be in the cabbage. I use a food processor/chopper to shred the cabbage. Then I place a layer around 2 to 3 inches thick on the bottom of a large ceramic crock. Add a tablespoon or two of pickling salt and then tamp with a piece of 2x4. The tamping forces the juice out of the cabbage and mixes the salt in. The salt draws more juice out and also acts as a preservative by preventing bad bacteria from growing. Then another layer of shredded cabbage, add salt, repeat. Keep layering, salting, and tamping until you reach the top of the crock. Lay down some large cabbage leaves as a top cover and hold it all down with a plate with a stone on it to add weight. Let it ferment for about a month, be sure there's enough brine on top to keep it all working the way it should. After the fermentation process is done, I place the kraut in half gallon canning jars and store in a cool place or in a refrigerator. There's more to it than this, but I'm trying to cover all the basics. I like to fix up a mess of pork chops, kraut, and garden grown taters - ain't nuthin' better. Store bought, canned kraut is crap because its pasteurized - that kills all the good stuff and the taste. For the real thing you gotta make your own.

 

[mainewoods]

I always plant a small piece just as early as I have any thawed ground. I call it my" fool mother nature" garden. I have had peas-spinach- chard- beet greens - carrots and lettuce up and growing as early as late March, even here in Maine. Many times the "FMN" garden is surrounded by snow for some period of time. Learned a lot of tricks over the years, and some years I need to use every one of them. D-i-c-k Raymond's book "Joy of Gardening" is a must read. 40 years of gardening wisdom in one book, from a man who knows gardening. A lot of tried and true wisdom in that book.

Edit: I had to spell D-i-c-k this way as the AS censors blanked out the name in it's true form.

 

[mainewoods]

I was skeptical of wide row gardening at first, but after trying it I must say it is a very efficient and productive way to garden. That was over 30 years ago, and I almost exclusively garden that way to this day. I tweaked his methods a bit over the years, but it is still basically the same principles. It just plain works well.

 

[mainewoods]

The early garden I plant is very small, and mostly just to have something fresh to eat after a long winter. Spring up here is extremely unpredictable and it is not wise to gamble too much. Extending the growing season in the fall is much more productive up here. The soil is already warmed, and is easier to keep at an acceptable level, than the very cold, often frozen spring soil. When the average time ( up here) between eating a fresh tomato in late summer, to eating the first fresh tomato the following summer is 10-11 months, extending the season, when the tomato's are already formed, makes the most sense.