Cold weather crops newbie

I have done a lot of vegetable gardening but have never grown cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, or brussel sprouts. When are they planted and harvested and what tricks, tips, instructions can you provide? I am in zone 6b and daffodils are just beginning to bloom here.

actually if i were you i would get those seed going right this minute, lol. the growing instructions on the seed package should let you know how long of a wait you have until harvest time. Also once the temperatures hit 80F, they will switch into seed producing mode, and they will bolt (go to flower), which then their only use would be for seed collecting. Other colder weather crops include carrots, lettuce, radishes, chard, kale, beets and turnips :)

Get varieties recommended for spring and/or fall crops, then try planting for both. Some places they prefer fall.

Cabbage, Cauliflower and broccoli are among the easiest of vegetables to grow. Considering how late it is in the season, I would suggest buying plants this year for a spring crop. You still have time to start all of these from seeds, but you need to do it yesterday. I am assuming your climate is similar to Lee County, Va with which I am familiar. I have grown Brussels in SW Va as a fall crop but they are much more tricky. It is usually cool enough in SW Virginia to also do a fall planting of Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, From seed you would start in late May early June for transplant in July. For spring planting I would recommend early maturing varieties. Properly hardened these plants will tolerate low 20's so only hard freezes need be considered. They are heavy feeders and need space (a minimum of 2 square feet per plant) larger varieties need more. All of these are harvested when the heads are complete.

In my region, these are really fall crops. We don't get enough cool spring temps to develop heads before hot summer temps. Instead, we plant in late summer and let most of the development happen before winter.

I suggest you check with your ag extension office to see what the recommended planting dates are in your county.

I can get a spring crop of broccoli, cabbage if can keep rabbits from eating it. Planted 9 each of broccoli, cabbage, spinach and lettuce yesterday:

READ the back of the seed packs. LOTS of info on them.

Other cool weather Brassicas are Bok Choy (Pak Choi), Chinese Cabbage (Napa or Michihli or loose-headed old varieties), Tatsoi and Komatsuna (mild greens almost as mild as Chinese cabbage). Any of those are suitable for salads when the leaves are young, or cooked greens when the plant is fully mature (like spinach).

They might be even easier to grow than more Western Brassicas, since they are tasty at every stage of growth from microgreens through baby leaves to salad-sized leaves to mature cooking greens.

One REALLY cold-hardy, very productive fast-growing Brassica green is a recent cross "Tyfon" or "Holland Greens". It has been stabilized since the cross, so you can collect OP seeds. They bred it to be suitable for feeding to milk cows without adding "mustard oil" to the milk. It must be the mildest B. rapa ever! They say that when cooking it, it just takes on the flavor of whatever you cooked it with.

"Tyfon" or "Holland Greens" [i]B. rapa[/i] cross between stubble turnips & Chinese cabbage.
cut-&-come-again every 35 days
Forage crop, cover crop, salad, greens.
Very cold-hardy (to 10 F)