November weather finally arrived just in time for Thanksgiving. Assuming most people indulged a bit on Thursday it might be time for some work in the garden and burn off at least one piece of pie.

The temperatures now are perfect for planting any of the cool season vegetables. Many gardeners started earlier and the unseasonablely warm temperatures got the plants off to a roaring start. Take heart there is still lots of time. Commercial vegetable growers in the valley plant the cool season crops now until early next year.

Cool season vegetables include plants that we eat the roots, stems, leaves or immature blooms. Carrots, turnips, rutabagas and parsnips are roots. Spinache, all the greens and lettuce make up the leaf group. Celery, kohlrabi onions (sort of) examplify stems. Broccoli and cauliflower suppy the immature blooms for eating.

As a group cool season vegetables offer three great opportunities for growing food in the garden.

First, most of them take up little garden space for the amount harvested to eat. Compared to the root and leaf crops any warm season vegetable seems nearly wasteful looking at sapce needed and food harvested. Even with the larger plants like the cabbages or collards little of the plant is wasted; unlike melons, corn or tomatoes where only a small portion of the plant is harvested.

Second, the cool season crops read like a super-vitamin and food supplement. They are exceptionally high in vitamins, minerals, fibre and calcium. Most people know the nutritional value of these plants. Most people, even children will eat carrots, celery and lettuce with little prompting. The rest of the cool season vegetables are thought of as acquired tastes. But once acquired the taste and desire become cravings.

And third, most of the exotic and expensive new greens found in up scale grocery stores are cool season vegetables. All the different lettuces, arugala, radicchio or endive can be grown. The major catch is finding seed of these exotic vegetables.

Soil preparation is much more pleasurable in the temperatures now than a month ago. Find a site in full sun and spread at least two inches of organic matter on the surface. Then apply a high phosphorous fertilizer at the recommended rate on the bag. Many companies package fertilizers for vegetables. Just follow the rates give in the directions. One more addition is soil sulfur or a similar product at the rate of 3 to 5 pounds per 100 square feet.

Thoroghly incorporate everything by digging or rototilling. Once the garden is prepared then rake smooth and plant.

Seeds will begin to emerge within two weeks except for carrots that take forever. Transplants of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces and my personal favorite Brussels sprouts will begin to grow immediately giving you about a month's head start direct seeding. That alone makes it worth the extra cost of buying transplants.

Check with fellow gardeners or your nursery for ideas about varities they recommend. And remember if you are not going to eat it, no need to plant it. There will be a lot of room to plant lots of the cool season vegetables you do like.

Written by Terry Mikel, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona, 602-470-8086.
Material originally appeared in Arizona Republic
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