Cabbage, broccoli, and collard greens.

[redneck647]

I need some advice. When should I be planting these plants? I keep getting conflicting information on when to plant them.
I'm going with a may 15th last frost date and my info says to start the broccoli and cabbage inside on 4/3 and transplant it at the end of the month. Is that anything close to what I really want to do? Also with them being cold weather plants is there any benefit to planting them inside instead of out?
Also I have never grown the Collards before so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[applestar]

Are you up in the mountains where it's cooler in the summer? Because around here it gets way too hot too quickly -- I might have two weeks of spring-like weather normally though this year seems a bit different, we are warming up earlier.

What you want to do with these is plant them early. They can easily take frost and 20's while young and just leaf stage. You want the broccoli to start heading up soon after last frost, so growing in the garden for about a month before that. I'm transplanting out mine that were started inside earlier now, and thinking I should have done it last week. (They are already hardened off on the patio table). My last average frost is last week of April.

Can't help with collards as have not grown them before, but I have the impression collard greens are more heat tolerant.

[Taiji]

I just put out my first broccoli seedling today. They are only a little over 2 weeks old. I could have had all those things out earlier, had I started them sooner. Next year, I'm going to start them in January or Feb maybe. My last frost is supposedly May 5 or so.

[rainbowgardener]

Start them in january. When I was in zone 6 with a mid April last frost date, I started broccoli indoors Jan 15-23 to plant out mid March.

[redneck647]

Thanks. And I'm in the mountains.
So it sounds like I'm behind on planting them. would it be ok to just plant them right in the garden now or should I start them inside?

[Taiji]

Start them in january. When I was in zone 6 with a mid April last frost date, I started broccoli indoors Jan 15-23 to plant out mid March.

I like the sound of that! It'll give me something to do gardening wise in mid winter. Plant broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and onions seeds indoors.

[imafan26]

Northern gardeners usually plant kale, collards are more popular in the south. They both like cool weather, but yes collards are more heat tolerant. Kale and collards can handle a light frost so you can start them early. Kale takes about a month to be transplantable and will be ready to harvest around 60 days. Collards are like a non heading cabbage they need some space to spread out. Broccoli is slow. Broccoli I planted December 12 is just starting to make heads now. I transplanted them to the garden about 6 weeks ago, so I kept the seedlings in pots for almost two months. I should have transplanted them out earlier, but I had to make space and get rid of the weeds first. I can continue to get side shoots till about the early part of May. I don't have much luck planting a heading cabbage, I stick to Asian greens, much easier to grow.

[jal_ut]

I plant those early crops as soon as the snow is gone and the ground dry enough to get on it. Mid March to early April in these parts. You can surely try it now and see how it goes? Oh, I always plant seed directly in the garden, no pre-starts on these things.

[Peter1142]

Interesting, here Mid March this year would have been fine to even transplant out, but you can't count on that, with often heavy snow cover, frozen ground, or soggy soil. At the same time the cool season can be very short, so transplants are important to get a jump on the season, transplanted as soon as possible. Though it depends on the variety. This year I started early around March 1st indoors and hope to start transplanting this weekend.

[redneck647]

Thanks. I've planted them in the garden so hopefully they will do ok.
Cabbage is the only thing in this group that I’ve had any success with and everyone keeps telling me that I'm growing it wrong to so. Lol.
I just haven’t figured out the timings for the earlier plants yet around here.

[jal_ut]

With cabbage you may find that the bugs sure love it. It may be necessary to give it some protection from the bugs right up front.