Something most people don’t realize is that many of the crops we call “cool season” vegetables are actually biannual crops. Technically, the word biannual means two years, but for many of these crops they have been bred to grow in two seasons. They need the warm weather to put on lots of vegetative growth. As the day shortens toward the end of September, crops like broccoli and cauliflower get the signal to flower or produce the florets or heads that we like to eat. I didn’t grow up eating collards, but I’ve learned that if they get a hard freeze or a frost on them before they are harvested, then they lose some of the bitterness and become more edible.

That being said, it’s time to plant collards, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi. All are cultivated varieties (cultivars) of the same species, Brassica oleracea. Most people would have a hard time telling apart the seedlings of these cultivars without a tag in the pot to identify them. Honestly, I have a difficult time telling them apart until they get a little size on them. Plant them now and protect them from cabbage worms and diamondback moths with a woven fabric row cover. You should get a really good crop come October or November, hopefully before Thanksgiving.

Other crops to consider planting include rutabaga, radish, turnip, parsnip, parley, kale, beet, dill and lettuce among others.