Cole crops

Don't plant too many cabbages at one time.
While they are easy enough to grow, do you and
your family need 20 of these beauties all at once?

Do you know cabbage?

Cole crops are all the cabbage crops derived from a single species of Brassica oleracea. (Kohl is the German word for cabbage.)

The cultivars are divided into seven or eight major groups (depending upon the authority) that are grouped according to form.
-Acephala group--kale, collard greens and ornamental cabbages.
-Alboglabra group--Chinese broccoli and obscure pot herbs.
-Botrytis group--cauliflower, broccoli and broccoflower
-Capitata group--cabbages: red, green and Savoy
-Gemmifera group--Brussels sprouts
-Gongylodes group--kohlrabi (German for cabbage apple)
-Italica group--Italian broccoli, sprouting broccoli, purple cauliflower. This group includes the looser headed varieties.
-Tronchuda group--tronchuda kale and cabbage, Portuguese kale, braganza.

This is probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is and now you know why a cabbage salad is called cole slaw.

The main curd of broccoli is only the start...

Leave the plant in place for...

come-again broccoli for the rest of the season.

Cabbages can grow back after harvesting or
like this plant grown from a cabbage heart.

While we are waiting for the winter crops, we are enjoying the
fall cucumbers, sugar snap peas and the last of the okra..

Organic Methods for Vegetable
 Gardening in Florida

Now is the time to start your fall/winter crops in Florida.

Cole crops are only one group of plants to start now, you can also start lettuces, beets, chards, carrots, dill, and more. For more details, buy the book.

I'm a tree hugger, for sure!

Tree hugger!

In case it hasn't been obvious, I have been a tree hugger my whole life, so I will be voting "YES" on Florida's Amendment #1 in November. Monies that had been set aside in a trust by Jeb Bush in 1999 to purchase important and environmentally significant lands in Florida have been used for other expenditures by our current governor and legislature. Plus some of the lands that had already been set aside in the Florida Forever program, were put up for sale. Amendment #1 will change things so that politicians will not be able to do this again.Please join me in this vote--it's extremely important for the future of Florida's fragile ecosystems.



Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny