I planted them March 18th. Maybe cool season crops are best left to the fall here in Va?

where in Virginia? Some places in VA are still having frosts and freezes.

They should still GROW in April, irregardless of how they end up. Broccoli is easy to grow.

The plants do look stressed, with the reddish leaves. I would assume that they have had water, so probably the soil is suppressing growth. How mush mulch or "claybreaker" is there?

Northern Neck. And yes, the past three nights we’ve had frost/freeze warnings, the daytime temps last week were quite warm though.

broccoli and cauliflower are cool (not cold) weather plants and temps in the 30’s will stunt their growth.

Does the roof have an overhang? If so it's keeping rainwater out of that bed.

Va Lady, near Richmond here and I planted broccoli and cabbage transplants in Mid March too. These are doing great but I do baby them. A couple of nights in the Upper-20's did not set them back. I make my own compost but also add an organic fertilizer (Espona Gardentone) to the soil 2 weeks prior to planting. If the topsoil and compost you used was store bought you may want to check your pH, 6.5 is good.

All composts are not the same and neither is the topsoil sold at stores so an amendment fertilizer and possibly a pH adjustment is needed.. My plants get 8-10 hours of direct sunlite daily and 6 is a minimum for a decent crop for me, so if your house shaded them part of the day that may set them back too. BTW, I've never heard of "Claybreaker".

Rbt - I only used the Claybreaker as a mulch, so about 1-2” on top.

John - there is no overhang, just the soffit. After we filled it with soil I watched when it rained to see how far out from the foundation I needed to plant so they would not miss out on rainwater. Not the best photo but you can see there is no large overhang. The bed is somewhat sunken though. I’ve kept the soil so that with a layer of mulch there is only about a 2” drop from the patio to the soil.

Vgkg- I had our lawn guy full the planter and he had the 50/50 mix made at the bulk soil/mulch location that he uses for all of his jobs. The house doesn’t shade them much at all, they easily get 6+ hours of sun. My origins plan was to use that bed for tomatoes and peppers... maybe it’s better suited to taller veggies like that. Or maybe I’ll needed to use it for flowers instead and find another location for veggie gardening.

This is the Claybreaker. I only used it because it’s what I had in the garage and wasn’t able to make it out to the store to get mulch. Maybe the pine in it is making the soil too acidic? I guess I’m just confused as to why I have some plants that look really good and others not so much. I even have some sugar snap peas in there and they’re doing great.

Claybreaker is, I believe, gypsum. Calcium sulfate. Loads up the soil with calcium, and removes sodium. Can end up with excess calcium. An odd thing to mulch with. Mainly to break up dense subsoil, and is usually combined with some organic mulch.

Daninthedirt- newbie here. I saw on the bag that it could be used for mulch too so I just went with it. I’ve used it in my front flower beds with good results. I guess I’ll just see how it all turns out and then mix it into the soil before I plant anything in there this summer. And I’ll make sure to mulch with a hardwood from here on out.

VaLady, It's still is a good idea to have that soil mix your landscape guy added tested for nutrients and pH. Here in Henrico Co the local libraries offer soil sample collection test kits to use where you send in a sample to Va Tech for analysis for a minimum price (there are discount vouches available on line in the instructions).

Personally I've never cared for "mulch" (as in ground up bark and wood chips) to use in the veggie garden. That type of woody product may be fine for establish perennials like azaleas, rose bushes, etc but it's best (for me anyways) to use real homemade compost as a mulch for growing veggies. Even then adding a balanced fertilizer is required for good growth and production.

BTW, I've tried Brussels sprouts with meager results, they just don't seem to do as well as other crops like broccoli and cabbages here. Cauliflower can do well but it can also be a challenge at times. Even broccoli can "button up" when growing conditions aren't to it's liking. Hope some of this info helps, Happy Harvest!

The Claybreaker does call for one-inch coverage, and working it in. But it sounds like this is gypsum mixed with organic stuff. Also, pine needles don't acidify significantly. That's a common myth. Best way to loosen compacted soil is just by digging in compost. I agree that it's high time to get some soil testing done. Always do that for a new bed. A simple soil test will tell you what you lack in your soil, and if you OD'd on calcium.

I will test the soil so that I know what I’m working with. I guess I’m just a little confused as to why some of the plants are doing well and some aren’t... they’re in the exact same soil. I thought maybe it was due to the white foundation vs the dark concrete patio? If that is the case, is it the extra light reflection or is it cooler by the white wall?
These are photos from today. I planted some clematis on the downspout trellis and when I dug the hole the soil was nice and moist. The soil does slope a bit towards the front (higher at the back), maybe I need to build up the soil level more?

frost date is what matters.

War garden - can you give me some more specifics? I’ve only ever grown tomatoes and peppers. The cool weather veggies are all new to me.

Frost date is irrelevant to brassicas. They're all hard freeze tolerant.

Update- they’re growing! Especially the ones at the back of the bed. I don’t think I’m going to get anything from them though before the heat sets in.