Broccoli transplants in reserve
Pure joy is gently uprooting
clods of sunlit earth housing young broccoli and cabbage seedlings,
then watering them into new beds while the flock scratches through the
compost pile next door. I could almost taste the crisply sweet
broccoli heads as I worked, and it was tough to make myself stop when
the requisite 50 plants (plus 7 cabbages) were in the ground.
Another couple dozen
sets still grace the quick hoop, but I want to keep them in reserve to
replace any seedlings that die in the next week. I've learned the
hard way that transplants are magnets for cut worms (I always lose a
few plants, but never enough to bother making each seedling a
protective collar), cat damage, and freak killing
frosts. 
This year I waited a couple
of extra days until the 10 day weather forecast had lows all above
freezing, but you just can't trust the spring weather not to throw a
monkey wrench in the works for fun.
After I replace any dead
seedlings next week, the rest of my crucifer babies will be looking for
a home. Joey, Mom, this is your chance to add some crunch to your
spring garden! I may also tuck a few extras into the hugelkultur
donuts beyond the
canopy of my fruit trees and perhaps even transplant a few into the
soon-to-be vacated chicken pasture. After all, I learned last
year that broccoli leaves are one of our chickens' favorite foods.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.