Planting Out My Broccoli and Cauliflower Starts

Bob Bauer

February 11, 2017 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

February 11, 2017

Planting out my broccoli and cauliflower starts today showed me where my soil can be worked or not. If you squeeze a handful of soil, and it sticks together, it's too wet to work. We are starting early this year and I've found my corn patches are the most well drained, so they are getting my cruciferous plants , and I've rotated my crops..

I've started melon and squash indoors to go out in 4 weeks and the mounds where they are going are already workable. The pathways are so sticky that I walk on the edges of them, and the rich black mud that ozzes up is probably the best soil in the garden..

February 12, 2017

It got down to 26ÃÂ° last night but my broccoli and cauliflower transplants were perky this morning. I had put the corrugated plastic cold frames over them because I won't need them for the melon and squash for another 4 weeks, and the crucifers can benefit from the extra warmth. A few dead slugs inside made me glad that I put some Deadline down. They make a slug killer with iron oxide as the main ingredient that isn't toxic to pets so I may try it again..

The last time I used it the birds ate the pellets, pooped in the pond, and it killed all the pond snails. The water turned pea green with algae then started to stink. Now that I don't have a pond, but have garden cats, it may be time to switch back..

February 13, 2017

Some of the cabbage and lettuce seeds I planted 4 days ago have come up already. Seed starting mats are great. Popping the seeds up fast keeps them from rotting in the soil mix. It also keeps you from wondering if you did everything right. I'll move them outside in the morning and back in at night until they are all up, then they will go into the greenhouse..

Things are warming up fast. The lettuce in the greenhouse has doubled in size even though I've forgotten to water it since it was transplanted. It makes me think I've been over watering my spring transplants, or this is an exceptionally wet year, because they are ahead of schedule..

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