Thanks, Sandy! I'm praising my God EVERY day for His hand of care on my niece!
What are your current temps? Because, as long as your average daytime temps are somewhere between oh, 65°-33°, you can go ahead and plant those seeds, LOL!
I started seedlings indoors in late August, and transplanted out sometime in late September. Unfortunately, our winter weather has been more like summertime, and for too long. The collards are JUST NOW taking off! And, they are growing really, really fast. They've fairly doubled in size in just the last week. None were ready for the Thanksgiving table, and I checked on them this morning. They will ALL be ready by the Christmas dinner, and every four week thereafter until the heat or the bugs take them out in the springtime. Getting my freezer ready, LOL!
These are cool/cold weather crops, that thrive at temps hovering in the mid-40s. As long as they aren't subjected to prolonged freezing temps (for more than 3-5 days & nights in a row below freezing, unprotected) they will do fine. In fact, they actually get sweeter once they've been subjected to a dip below freezing. It's all about being prepared to protect them in prolonged freezing temps (below 30°).
If you put a simple PVC hoop over the bed, and throw some old sheets over that you should be fine for overnight. It'll warm up during the daytime. If it's going to be several nights and days, I'd start protection by watering the bed very well, leaves and all. Then, throw on some old sheets, followed by a sheet of thick plastic, & followed by some old lightweight blankets, depending on how low and for how long. Need more protection? Fill some milk jugs with hot water and shove underneath, followed by some old-fashioned Christmas tree lights (the ones that get warm), and finally as a last defense, shove a small space heater underneath, overnight. The space heater should get you through several days and nights very safely, set on low...
Here, I've only had to go as far as the lightweight blankets. But, I have every other contingency ready, too!
Hugs!
Here's my HOOP HOUSE TUTORIAL. Since I first wrote it, I've adjusted the height of my hoops, 'cause they were just too tall for the cabbages and root crops. So, this season, I cut the 10' lengths to between 6.5' and 7', bending them over my beds which are roughly 3'-4' wide. The hoops now stand about 3.5' - 4' tall, with much less wasted space above the plants.
http://davesgarden.com/communi...
