How to Time Your Fall Brassicas - Ep. 307

Fall gardening doesn't start in September. For the crops that take a long time to produce, your broccoli, your cauliflower, your cabbage, your Brussels sprouts, it starts right now in late June and early July. And if you've never had a productive fall brassica bed, it's almost certainly because you started too late and it took me a lot of years to master this.

This episode is about fall gardening planning, and specifically about the crops that require you to be thinking ahead right now, in late June and into July, when literally nothing about summer conditions suggest that fall is coming.

We’re talking about the timing, why it matters, how to calculate it for your specific first frost date, and exactly what to do if you're sitting here thinking you may have already missed the window — because you might not have, but we need to move quickly.

Let’s dig in.

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Resources:

How to Calculate Your Fall Brassica Dates

• Step 1: Find your average first frost date (garden.org/apps/frost-dates or your local extension service)
• Step 2: Take days to maturity for your chosen variety
• Step 3: Add 10–14 days for the short-day factor
• Step 4: Count backward from first frost — that is your transplant-out deadline
• Step 5: Count back another 4–6 weeks — that is your seed-starting deadline

MU Extension — Vegetable Planting Calendar (G6201): Variety-specific fall planting dates for Missouri's three planting regions. https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6201

UMN Extension — Growing Broccoli: Seed-starting timing (early to late July for fall crop), variety selection, and fall head quality. https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-broccoli

UMN Extension — Growing Broccoli: Seed-starting timing (early to late July for fall crop), variety selection, and fall head quality. https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-broccoli

UMN Extension — Growing Brussels Sprouts: Start seeds in June indoors or direct, water deeply once weekly, harvest through fall frosts. https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-brussels-sprouts

UMN Extension — Growing Cauliflower: Start seeds in July for fall crop; cool temperatures essential for quality curd formation. https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-cauliflower

UMN Extension — Growing Cabbage: For fall crop, plant seed directly in garden in early July; cabbage takes 60–100 days. https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-cabbage

UMD Extension — Planting Dates for Vegetable Crops (Transplant Timing): Short-day factor methodology for fall transplant timing. https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/2021-03/PlantingDatesforVegetableCropsinMaryland.pdf

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