Broccoli will handle temps down to about 22 F. If it gets lower than than that for a few hours they will fail. The photo is a broccoli that was damaged by a 20 degree freeze. {{gwi:114257}}

I have found that fall planting can be tricky.
You cannot start early enough because the weather is to hot. And when you do, by the time they get going the cold comes and they won't do much. For the northerners it is easier to grow them in the spring, I would think. I have started winter radish in mid August and it was quite warm. Some of them even tended to bolt. But yet they are not bulbing. Of course the bad weather and location is partly to blame. But over all the timing is very hard.

Okay good to know. Hopefully they have time to produce before temps get too low.

Low tunnels are your friend! Not only for your brassicas, but a number of cool season vegetable...... Extend your fall growing season by 6 weeks!

Okay good to know. Hopefully they have time to produce before temps get too low.

I am wondering about the same thing about my broccoli

I grew calabrese in the spring after many years of successfully growing Packman. The plants only produced a handful of florets, no heads. The florets quickly formed yellow flowers. Each plant produced only barely enough for one serving. Packman produced heads 12 inches across and an abundance of side shoots after the heads were removed. The weather was still cool, but I pulled them all by early June and planted something else. I don't know if I did something wrong, or the plants I bought were duds or if this is what I should expect from "sprouting broccoli."

ADS,
This is our first time sowing for a early winter harvest.

We direct sowed cabbage and broccoli seeds toward the end of July. We had 90 degree weather into the 2nd week of Sept. and I was afraid they were going to bolt, but they didn't.

The largest broccoli head has about a 4 inch span. My cabbage is barely starting to head up. Hopefully the weather will hold out to, but I may resort to low tunnels if I need to.

This post was edited by nugrdnnut on Sun, Oct 13, 13 at 23:37

I would consider starting them earlier next year, maybe even as early as the end of June. In my climate, brassicae are all over the map for the days to maturity but it is never what the packet says. I have Calebrese planted for the fall and I have harvested the main head from all 6 and now they are producing good side shoots. I think I started the plants on the front porch in June and transplanted to the ground in August. Yes, it is often hot during this time but if the plant is doing it's main growth during the hot weather, it seems to be fine, at least for broccoli. Cauliflower tends to be trickier for me but broccoli generally will give me food. Also, if you are getting anxious for something, the broccoli leaves are edible too, just pick a few here and there, don't scalp it unless you are giving up on it.

I leave my spring broccoli in place. By fall, it's producing shoots abundantly.

I think the end of august is too late for starting from seed. That's when I put out the last of my transplants. I am not positive about this, but it may be your best bet to treat it like a summer veg that you wait until fall to harvest. My parents direct sow theirs in May, and they grow right through summer to pick them now, but they are in upstate NY. Your climate is probably pretty different from both mine and my parents' so I'm just guessing.

This is the first year I have successfully gotten fall broccoli after many tries, but what success! All plants are big and beautiful and the largest head harvested so far weighed 2 lbs and was the size of a dinner plate! Sorry for bragging, but it's something I've been trying to get right since I moved down south here. :)

Sunni-
End of August is when I set them out. I started them indoors under lights around mid July.
Does anyone have any pictures of what they look like before they start to head? I want to see if mine are close.

Here you go: {{gwi:114259}} {{gwi:67852}}

Thanks farmerdill what variety is that?
Here's a photo of one of my plants, no florets yet but it looks healthy, hoping they are getting close.

Here's a picture of the stalk.

Top photo Bonanza- bottom photo Bay Meadows.