Transplanting Cole Crops by National Gardening Association
Editors At last! You're ready to transplant your broccoli,
cauliflower and cabbage seedlings. If you have a choice, pick a
day that's overcast and moderately cool; too much hot sunshine
or cold wind will be hard on the plants. Planting late in the
afternoon also helps protect them. Readying for Transplanting
Have everything ready before you lift a single transplant: well-
worked soil; your rows marked off; water; fertilizer; two-inch-
wide newspaper strips to use as cutworm collars; trowel or spade
for making holes; seedlings. Water the seedlings thoroughly
while they're still in the tub, pots or flats. This causes the
soil around their roots to adhere to the roots, protecting them
from exposure to air and light. Prepare each row step by step,
rather than starting and finishing one transplant at a time.
This way the plants get uniform amounts of fertilizer, even
spacing and water, and the rows are generally neater. First,
make all the holes for the seed