We’re in the middle of a heat wave here in Livermore this fine January. It’s warm enough that I’ve had trouble keeping my kid in her clothes and out of water. Who am I kidding? I totally haven’t even tried.

A couple days ago, I got my pea inoculant from Papaw’s Garden (though Amazon) and my inoculant came with a free packet of ‘late flat Dutch’ cabbage. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, I should be starting my cabbage seeds indoors about now, and I should plant them in the soil in about a month.

But heat wave. And I’m not experienced at transplanting seedlings. Plus I wanted to be out in the sunny weather. So I prepped four garden squares that are currently shaded by the south fence. These squares have been pretty late to come alive due to their shady microclimate, but I noticed that the radish seeds I tossed into two of them have finally sprouted, so I guess the soil is getting warm enough for some seeds to germinate. That’s good enough for me.

The All New Square Foot Gardening recommends growing one cabbage per family, but we go through at least one cabbage a week. It’s a great veggie to add to caldo de verduras, which translates to ‘vegetable broth’. But don’t be fooled; broth is only what the vegetables float in, in a caldo de verduras. It’s a soup with chopped up bits of whatever veggie you like, cooked in salted water or chicken broth until the veggies are just tender and still brightly colored. I like to add crema if I’m in Mexico or labne if I’m in Livermore. Others in the house like it with a lot of lime or lemon.

So, I’m definitely planting more than just one cabbage.

Fully grown cabbages take up one square foot of garden space, but I don’t want to have to wait until they’re full grown before I can eat them. Instead I planted 16 seeds in three squares and then 36 seeds in one square (why not?). I’ll harvest the sprouts as I thin these out and hopefully get some early leafy veggies out them. I say ‘hopefully’ because someone has been snacking on my radish sprouts so I might have to detect the culprit to protect my forthcoming cabbage supply.

It might be the toddler who plucked a cosmos flower seedling today and ate it. #parentingwins.