Various planting guides stop at about November, while others continue on through the winter, recommending what plants can still be seeded.

In the past, I’ve tended to plant my carrots as late as the first of November (when the tomatoes are dying back), and reap a harvest in February and March of great carrots that grew slowly but fully during the winter.  I’ve also planted turnips in October, to have very juicy turnips for Thanksgiving.

This year, I decided to try an experiment and plant (by seed) three crops even this late – I’m writing this November 17.  The three crops are winter-hardy:  collards, cauliflower, and broccoli raab.

I’m fortunate enough to have a nifty bottom watering container on the property where I’m renting.  See the picture.

If you have taken a permaculture course, you may recognize this concoction.  It is an IBC tote that has had the top third cut off, PVC pipe is inserted so that a greenhouse or shadehouse can be created; the tote has water in it, upon which is floating styrofoam rafts covered with fabric (wool or cotton).  The fabric wicks the water up to the top of the rafts, on which you place your pots with seedlings.  The next picture will show what the collards and broccoli raab containers look like, all floating on their raft.

So… I took some 4″ pots left from transplanting herbs into a garden bed, filled them with rich, rich soil from the keyhole bed I’d built (a compost pile by any other name) and which we’d broken down and salvaged the soil.

Then I planted seeds and soaked the seed medium.  Then I placed on the wicking raft.  I’ll watch the plantings for the next several weeks and see if they (1) sprout; and (2) become viable transplants this late in the season.

Stay tuned…..