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  Two caveats apply:

  Brussels sprouts may be hard to mature as a fall crop in far northern areas, but they're commonly grown in fall in most other areas of the country.

  If the weather gets too cold or too warm when cauliflower plants are forming heads, all you end up with are scraggly, small heads. Temperatures in the 70-degree range are ideal, so it's best to avoid growing cauliflower when it will mature in the heat of summer. For that reason, many gardeners like to grow cauliflower only as a fall crop started in summer to mature in the cooler, autumn weather.

  Planting summer cole crops

  Even though you can direct seed most summer-maturing cole crops in spring — that is, plant the seed directly in the garden — it's easier to get a jump on the season by starting the plants indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date (see the appendix for first and last frost dates in your area). Then you can plant the seedlings in your garden 2 to 4 weeks before that date. Spring-planted summer-maturing cole crops can withstand a light frost, and planting them early gives them a jump-start on growing. After the plants have at least four leaves, cultivate around the plants to kill any weeds and mulch with hay or straw. (Check out Chapter 14 for information on battling weeds and Chapter 15 for mulching techniques.)

  Here's a rule-of-green-thumb when it comes to spacing cole crops, especially cabbage: The closer the plants are to one another, the smaller their heads will be (the appendix provides plant spacing guidelines). A dwarfed crop isn't necessarily bad — you may want to produce smaller, more manageable heads of cabbage. So, instead of planting cabbages 12 to 24 inches apart, try 8 to 12 inches. You'll get smaller, more manageable heads.

  Planting fall cole crops

  For gardeners in all but the coldest areas, a fall-maturing crop of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower may be easier to manage than a similar summer-maturing crop. Fall weather provides the perfect temperatures to mature cole crops to their sweetest flavor.

  For fall cole crops, start seedlings indoors about 3 months before your first frost and then transplant the seedlings to the garden 1 month later. For example, if your first frost is November 1, you should start seeds indoors on August 1 and then transplant them in your garden on September 1. (Starting the seedlings indoors and letting them grow until they're 3 to 4 weeks old helps them withstand the shock of being planted in the garden in summer.) To protect the young seedlings from the harsh summer sun, mulch them with hay or straw immediately after planting, and shade them — especially in the afternoon — with a shade cloth or floating row cover (a plastic or fabric material that lets light through but insulates the plants). (Refer to Chapter 21 for information on row covers.)

  In very mild-winter areas such as the U.S. West coast and the Gulf coast, try growing overwintering varieties of broccoli (varieties that can withstand cold temperatures better than other varieties and need a longer season to mature) such as ‘Purple Sprouting', which I discuss earlier in the chapter. Planted in fall, such varieties slowly grow all winter and mature in spring.

  Nurturing cole crops

  Cole crops like full sun and well-drained soil that's built into raised beds. Most importantly, though, cole crops really like fertile soil. A week or so before planting your seedlings, work a 3- to 4-inch layer of composted manure into the bed. About 1 month after you transplant your cole crop seedlings, apply about 3 to 4 pounds of an organic fertilizer, such as 5-5-5, to every 100 square feet of garden. (Chapter 15 has more on fertilizing.) Keep the soil moist, and a week or so after transplanting, apply an organic mulch such as hay or straw. These types of mulches keep weeds at bay and keep the soil cool and moist — just how cole crops like it.

  I stress the importance of cool weather for cole crops throughout this chapter, but mild temperatures can be too cool for some cole crops. Even though mature cole crop plants can withstand temperatures into the 20s, young plants may not be so hardy. If broccoli plants are exposed to several days of 40-degree temperatures when they're still young, they can form flower heads prematurely when the weather warms (which is called buttoning). Cauliflower does the same thing when exposed to cold temperatures or other stresses, such as crowding, when young. In either case, you're left with a small plant and head. To avoid this premature flowering, plant in summer for a fall crop or cover young spring-planted crops with a row cover to keep them warm.

  With older cauliflower varieties, such as ‘Snow Crown', you have to wrap the leaves over the head and tie them with twine, as shown in Figure 9-2. However, many newer varieties, such as ‘Fremont', are self-blanching (the leaves naturally grow to cover the head and avoid light) as well as disease resistant. However, even newer varieties benefit from careful inspection to ensure that the leaves are tightly covering the heads once they form.

  Keep the plants well watered, weeded, and mulched so they grow steadily through the season. Side-dress cole crops with an organic fertilizer such as 5-5-5 about 1 month after transplanting in the garden. (For more on side-dressing, flip to Chapter 15.) Nurture your plants, and they'll reward you with a bountiful harvest.

  Figure 9-2: You can keep older cauliflower varieties white by wrapping the leaves over the developing heads to keep them away from the sun.

  Putting a stop to pesky pest problems

  In general, cole crops have only a few problems that home gardeners need to watch out for. Many modern hybrid varieties have added disease resistance, so choose these varieties if diseases are a problem in your garden. I discuss general vegetable diseases and pests, such as cutworms, aphids, nematodes, flea beetles, and mildews, in Chapter 17, but the following list warns you about some specific cole crop pests:

  Black rot: This bacterial disease is a problem particularly with cabbage and cauliflower. It causes the plant or head to rot before maturing. The telltale signs are a foul smell, a yellowing of the lower leaves, blackening of the leaf veins, and triangular yellow areas on the leaf edges. You can control this problem by rotating crops (planting other unrelated crops such as tomatoes, beans, or lettuce in that area for 3 years) and removing all old cole crop plant debris.

  Cabbage maggot: If plants are stunted, pull one up and look at the roots. If you see small, white larvae (maggots) feeding there, you probably have cabbage maggots. The adult fly lays eggs on the stems at the soil line and then when the eggs hatch, the larvae tunnel into the soil and start feeding on the roots. The maggots are especially dangerous to young seedlings. To control the cabbage maggot, place a floating row cover over the young seedlings. After the weather warms, remove the row cover.

  Club root: If your plants are stunted, pull one up and check the roots. If the roots are gnarled and disfigured, a fungus called club root may be to blame. To prevent this disease, rotate crops and raise the soil pH to 7.2 by adding lime (see Chapter 14 for more on acceptable pH ranges for vegetables).

  Imported cabbageworm and cabbage looper: These two insects are the number-one problem with cole crops. The adult of the cabbageworm is a seemingly harmless white butterfly that lays single white eggs on the undersides of leaves. The eggs hatch, and then green caterpillars crawl out and begin to feed on the leaves. The adult of the cabbage looper is a gray-brown moth. These pests can quickly destroy your crop. As soon as you see signs of feeding — including the caterpillars or their dark green droppings — spray the crop with a biological control called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Bt is an effective bacteria that attacks only the larvae of caterpillar family insects and is safe to other insects, animals, and humans.

  Harvesting cole crops

  If all goes well, cole crops should be ready to eat after a few months. However, be sure to check the days to maturity for the varieties you choose. In this section, I share some tips to help you get the best harvests.

  Broccoli

  Harvest broccoli by cutting the main head when the flower buds are still tightly clustered together without any signs of blossoming. Even if the head is smaller than you would like it to be, cut it now. After the y
ellow flowers open, the flavor turns bitter. If you leave a few inches of the main stem on the plant, many broccoli varieties respond by growing side branches that produce little heads (see Figure 9-3). Keep harvesting, and the broccoli keeps producing! When you harvest the side shoots, cut the shoot back to the main stem. Doing so creates fewer, but larger side shoots that are easier to use.

  Brussels sprouts

  Brussels sprouts taste best after cool weather helps turn some of their carbohydrates into sugars. Following a frost, pick off the marble-sized sprouts from the bottom of the plant first, moving up the stalk. The more sprouts you pick from below, the larger the sprouts above will get. Pull off the lower leaves for easier picking.

  To make the sprouts mature faster, snip off the top few inches of the plant once sprouts have formed on the bottom 12 inches of the stalk.

  Figure 9-3: Side shoots on the broccoli plant keep the harvest coming.

  Because Brussels sprouts tolerate temperatures into the 20s, you can harvest right into New Year's in some areas. I've picked frozen sprouts off plants for Christmas, and they tasted great. The flavor actually gets sweeter with cool temperatures! Just cook and eat them immediately; if you try to store them, they'll rot.

  Cabbage

  Harvest cabbage heads when they're firm when squeezed. By periodically squeezing your cabbages through the growing season, you'll be able to tell when they're firm. (Don't worry — they won't mind!) To harvest, cut the head from the base of the plant with a sharp knife. When harvesting early-maturing varieties in summer, don't dig up the plants. Cabbages have the ability to grow smaller side heads on the plant after the main head is harvested; you harvest these side heads the same way that you do the main head.

  Sometimes, cabbage heads split before you can harvest them. Splitting occurs when the plant takes up too much fertilizer or water, especially around harvest time. This "overdose" causes the inner leaves to grow faster than the outer leaves, splitting the heads. Harvest splitting heads as soon as possible. To stop splitting once it starts, grab the head and give it a one-half turn to break some of the roots. You also can root prune the plant by digging in a circle about 1 foot from the base of the cabbage. Both of these methods slow the uptake of water and fertilizer to preserve the head.

  Cauliflower

  When heads are between 6 and 12 inches in diameter and blanched white (for white varieties) or fully colored (for colored varieties), pull up the whole plant and cut off the head. Cauliflower, unlike cabbage and broccoli, won't form side heads after the main head is cut.

  Chapter 10: A Salad for All Seasons: Lettuce, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Specialty Greens

  In This Chapter

  Leafing through lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard varieties

  Joining the green revolution: dandelions and other unusual greens

  Caring for your green crops

  If you're a beginning gardener and have never grown a vegetable in your life before, try greens. You'll find no easier group of vegetables to grow than greens. Unlike other vegetables that require weeks or even months of nurturing, greens are good things that come even to those who can't wait. Because you don't have to wait for flowering and fruiting to enjoy their green goodness, you can just pick the leaves at any stage, and — voilà! — you have dinner.

  In many growing areas, you can have fresh greens year-round from your garden with just a little planning. Sure, it's easy to buy a head of lettuce at the grocery store or farmer's market, but the pure joy of running out to the garden in the evening and plucking a fresh head for dinner gives you a great sense of satisfaction while introducing you to unusual varieties and flavors not readily available from most supermarkets. Plus you don't have to push a shopping cart with a bad wheel or break up any arguments in the cereal aisle just to gather basic salad ingredients.

  And speaking of salad, for most people, lettuce and salad are synonymous. Lettuce is definitely the number-one green, but in this chapter, I also discuss two other major greens crops: spinach and Swiss chard. In addition, I talk about my favorite unusual wild greens, including dandelions and sorrel. (Flip to Chapter 11 for details on other unusual yet more mainstream types of greens, such as arugula, collards, and endive.)

  Greens, by nature, are cool, moisture-loving crops. When the weather heats up to above 80 degrees Fahrenheit for several days in a row and the plant is mature enough, annual greens such as lettuce and spinach think the end is near and send up a seed stalk. This process is called bolting. Bolting doesn't just mean getting out of the house quickly. It's also a term used to describe a greens crop gone bad. During this process, the flavor of the greens quickly becomes bitter, so plan to plant and harvest your greens while the weather's cool or else grow varieties that are tolerant of the heat. I provide guidelines for growing all types of greens at the end of this chapter.

  Lettuce Get Together

  Originally from the Mediterranean area, lettuce (Latuca sativa) was eaten at the tables of Persian kings in 550 B.C. and was once thought to be an aphrodisiac. I can't attest to its aphrodisiacal qualities, but I do know that lettuce is considered the quintessential salad crop around the world.

  The four basic types of lettuce — crisphead, loose-head, loose-leaf, and romaine lettuce (all shown in Figure 10-1) — offer a number of tasty varieties to delight the palate. The most common are green-colored leaf varieties, but you can grow many red- and burgundy-colored leaf varieties and those with a mixture of colors, too. Some varieties form solid heads, but others don't. Varieties have smooth, frilly, or deeply cut leaves.

  The following sections describe the four basic types of lettuce along with their days to maturity and some of my favorite varieties. They all are best in cool weather conditions, but some varieties can tolerate the heat. Just remember that lettuce can be eaten much younger, depending on your needs and appetite.

  Crisphead lettuce

  The crisphead group is most widely known as the "iceberg" lettuces, so named because when the lettuce was shipped from California (the main lettuce-growing region in the United States) to the East Coast in the early 1900s, mounds of ice were used to keep it cool and fresh.

  Figure 10-1: Crisphead, loose-head, loose-leaf, and romaine lettuce all have distinct shapes.

  ‘Iceberg' is the most widely known variety, but many other crispheads are just as tasty and easy to grow. This type of lettuce forms a solid head when mature, with white, crunchy, densely packed inner leaves. Crispheads tend to take at least 70 days to mature from seeding in the garden. Following are some popular varieties of crisphead lettuce:

  ‘Iceberg': Famous in grocery stores across the country, these compact heads have tightly-packed smooth leaves and white hearts. They're best when grown in cool conditions (below 70 degrees), because then they form solid heads. (Find tips for growing head lettuce in the section "Growing Great Greens," later in this chapter.)

  ‘Nevada': This French crisphead features upright, bright green ruffled leaves with a nutty flavor. These cool-weather plants resist tip burn, rot, and bolting.

  ‘Summertime': So named for its ability to form solid heads in the heat of summer, ‘Summertime' has green, frilly leaves and a crisp texture.

  Romaine lettuce

  Romaine was named by the Romans, who believed in the healthful properties of this type of lettuce. Emperor Caesar Augustus even built a statue in praise of romaine lettuce, so it's no surprise that this is the type of lettuce featured in Caesar salad. The alternative name, "Cos," comes from the Greek island of Kos, where it's popular.

  Romaine lettuce grows tall, upright, solid heads and long, thick green or red leaves with solid midribs (the middle vein of the leaf). This type of lettuce tends to take at least 70 days to mature from seeding and can withstand summer heat. It can be grown as a "cut and come again" type of lettuce. Here are a few common varieties:

  ‘Outredgeous': Bright red, thick, glossy, ruffle-edged leaves form the red color best on this open-pollinated variety when grown in partly shaded
areas.

  ‘Parris Island Cos': This smooth, green-leafed, open-pollinated romaine lettuce has 10-inch-tall, thick, green leaves.

  ‘Rouge D'Hiver': An old French heirloom with bronze-red smooth leaves and a buttery texture. It tolerates cold better than heat.

  ‘Winter Density': This variety is a green smooth-leaf lettuce that's actually a cross between a loose-head and a romaine-type lettuce. This 8-inch-tall plant is both heat and cold tolerant.

  Loose-head lettuce

  Loose-head or Butterhead lettuce features dark or medium green leaves or red leaves and smooth, thick outer leaves folded around a loosely-formed, yellow-to-white head. The heads of loose-head lettuce aren't solid like a crisphead type, but they're easier to grow, especially during the summer heat. This type matures starting at 60 days from seeding. Here are a few popular varieties:

  ‘Bibb': ‘Bibb' is an heirloom, dark green, smooth-leafed, loose-head lettuce that dates back to the 1800s.

  ‘Buttercrunch': A bolt-resistant, open-pollinated, loose-head type, ‘Buttercrunch' has thick, juicy, ruffled leaves; it's best grown as a summer crop.

  ‘Deer Tongue': This heirloom, loose-head type lettuce with tongue-shaped, smooth-edged, green leaves is slow to bolt, making it a good choice in warm weather. Kids are fascinated by this variety because of its unique shape and name.

  ‘Four Seasons' (Merveille des Quatre Saisons): This heirloom has beautiful deep burgundy, smooth-edged, puckered outer leaves covering a creamy green-leaved heart. The plants are compact and sweet.

  ‘Speckles': An unusual Amish heirloom Bibb-type lettuce with red speckles on olive green, smooth-edged, slightly puckered leaves and a blanched green heart.