cool season vegetable planting
Emily Oster
The Kale, Green by Christopher Breimhurst via Society6
Its hard to believe but the time to plant cool season vegetables is upon us here in Missouri. Cool season vegetables grow in the spring and fall as they do not do well in heat and can actually have their flavor enhanced by a light frost. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, and collard greens are among the most popular cool season vegetables and are all variations of the species Brassica oleraceae. Onions are another common cool season vegetable although in Missouri you are limited to only long day varieties rather than short day that are too sensitive to colder temperatures to prosper.
My tentative plan is to pull out the basil and dill which are both in their own 12" diameter pots and to plant kale. I also have another container that is roughly the same size that I would like to use for a 'Melody' variety of spinach. I am also going to transplant my strawberry plants into another container as they are annuals and I will eventually be removing the soil in the big planter to make some design improvements. I haven't totally decided if I am going to replace the strawberries with anything yet but I am thinking maybe some herbs that do well in cooler temperatures like parsley, chives and cilantro.
According to a few articles I have read, I should be planting my transplants sometime around the middle of this month so basically two days from now. I haven't investigated my local nursery to see what they have available but I am hoping they will have organic, non-GMO plants. Going to be a busy weekend of planting...