Kale planted April 11th 2011

BrianSkilton · Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:28 pm

Okay so I got my kale/broccoli out the second week of April. We were getting some 50's 60's and even got as high as 75. However, a few days later here we have gotten rain/sleet for 1 1/2 weeks now. Also it is snowing as I type this, and its suppose to snow again a few days later. Is my Kale totally doomed? I do have it under "wall o waters" but we haven't seen the sun in 2 weeks. I was hoping to get it out before the high temps. Not much of a transition here just one extreme to the other, thats why I always have a hard time determining when I can plant cold weather veg. Man I better get some hot coco, winter has revisited us.

jal_ut · Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:29 pm

The kale will do fine. All of the cole crops are quite cold hardy.

BrianSkilton · Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:32 pm

My only concern is they are still quite small plants, not really established yet. This will be a true test with these walls o water. What about the Broccoli Jal?

jal_ut · Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:54 pm

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohl rabi, turnips, collards, Brussels sprouts, and kale are all cole crops. (Brassica)

BrianSkilton · Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:38 pm

Yeah, they are all part of the brassica family, but Kale can take colder temps correct?

BrianSkilton · Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:50 pm

One other question Jal, My rhubarb came up at the end of March now with all these freezing temperatures, will it be able to withstand them? Or if the frost does kill it, will it come back up when it getter nicer out?

cynthia_h · Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:28 pm

My fall-planted kale survived 28 degrees over two nights in December quite well. Is that the kind of frost temp you experience in April? I can't speak to anything lower than that, at least not this year. The Bay Area is a weird place re. low temps, anyway....

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

BrianSkilton · Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:57 pm

Not exactly, sometimes we experience blizzards in April or sometimes we experience 90's in April. However sometimes we do have a normal April, when highs are in the upper 50's and 60's. You just never know what your going to get here. So far we have had two weeks of lows in the lower 30's or so, sometimes colder. A week ago however we had a 78 degree day, just to have a high of 40 two days later, its weird I haven't seen something like this in awhile. Rest of April has lows in the 30's and highs in the 40's. Weird stuff...

soil · Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:37 am

kale is better when its growing in cold weather imo.

rainbowgardener · Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:45 am

Jal is right, all the brassicas are quite cold hardy and frost tolerant. My broccoli was snowed on twice and was doing great (until the woodchuck came along and ate it, but that's another story).

jal_ut · Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:27 am

About the rhubarb, I have never seen mine get frozen in the spring. It seems to have some frost tolerance too. Hey, if you have some nice stems harvest it. Yes, it will grow up again if you harvest or if it freezes.

My rhubarb is just coming up. So that tels you how much behind you our season is. The daffodils are just starting to bloom. The apricot tree has not bloomed. I dumped another 0.94 inch of rain out of the gauge this morning. Wet, wet, wet!

BrianSkilton · Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:36 am

Yeah Jal, I hear ya, its been one very cold and wet spring. Half the month it has rained/snowed and we have had a select few days of sun shine.

WinglessAngel · Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:56 am

I live in NE Ohio and unfortunately since I planted all my seedlings out, prob about 200 or so, we've had almost non stop rain since that night and if it wasnt rainy we had a windstorm! all my seedlings are pretty much goners, not so much the hold, but the windy rain we've been getting, the only thing that is standing up to the wind so far has been my store bought cauliflower plants (go figure) it looks like I may be reseeding via direct seed outdoors when it gets a little less rainy and more sunny out....I fear my plant seedlings are about 85% goners now (and they are mostly cole crops as well btw, my brussel sprouts and kohlerabi's, those took a severe dump, including my carrots as well)...reseeding it is soon enough!

rainbowgardener · Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:20 am

Yeah, the things that can handle the cold just fine don't like too much water, if it floods. And if your seedlings were just small, they can get beaten down by wind and hard rain.

The trouble is, it will be getting late to start broccoli now (not sure about kale, I don't grow it, and the carrots will be fine restarted now). Broccoli doesn't produce well (sometimes not at all) once it gets hot and you are losing the window before it gets hot. You might have to break down and get store bought broccoli plants like you did with the cauliflower.

By the time it dries out, it will be time to plant beans and not too long after that (early- mid May for you I think) it will be time to plant squash and melons. You would probably be ok to start tomatoes again right now, if you are doing them. If you want peppers and don't have any started yet, you probably need to buy plants of those as well.

jal_ut · Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:47 am

It has been wet and cold the whole month of April. Usually we get some good windows to plant things in early April. I had two days when the garden got dry enough to not stick to my boots and I did manage to plant a few things, but they are not growing. Too cold. We have had 5 inches of rain in April. That is way above the average in this dry country. There has been some flooding in spots around the area near the rivers. My yard is saturated. When I walk it goes squish, squish. Come on sunshine!

As always, plant in faith and hope. I always manage to get a harvest of something.

The rain and wind may beat up your seedlings, but it may surprise you when the sun finally comes out. Good luck.

WinglessAngel · Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:49 am

no kidding on the squish squish part! I get ponds in certian areas of my yard when we get just moderate rains, hence the reasoning for broken up garden plot areas....gonna go out now in a few mins and check my remaining plants and my cauliflowers....crossing my fingers, but I have time to replant seeds if I need to for now...we're supposed to get none stop rain for the next few days now, so ill have to wait a bit before I replant new seeds, but the ones that do make it should be strong and healthy (at least thats what I'm hoping LOL)

BrianSkilton · Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:02 pm

Man, tell me about it! So much rain. Anyway I just through a tarp over the whole bed I have planted in. Since the plants are under wall o water's they won't get trampled by the tarp. At least they will stop get flooded, its not like they are getting any light anyway with this crazy weather. Bring on the sun...please.