A moment of pride?

OK. So I've tried for 3 years to grow broccoli. The first year all 1000 row feet bolted before they were big enough to harvest. Epic fail. Last year I scaled back & just did some small test crops. Some bolted again, but 1 of the fall test plots worked out great. Unfortunately, that only amounted to about 15 heads.

THIS year I decided to give it a full try again with a planned fall crop of broccoli for all CSA members (and a test of 50 cauliflower plants). The foliage came along beautifully, but I was nervous when, come October, there was still no sign of them heading up. Then this:

Because my biggest problem in the past has been bolting, I decided to err on the side of caution on the heat front & take the row cover off good & early. This, however, left the plants more susceptible to pest damage. Decided to just hope for a worm-free crop without the help of the physical barrier that row cover provides...

...AND the result??

OOOOEEEE!! I have rarely been such a proud mama!

As a bonus, we got almost 100% harvestability off the cauliflower test crop - might just try more of those next year....