It's the end of July, and tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchinis fill your plates.  It's hot outside, so you're not thinking "cool weather" crops like the brassicas or cole crops.  But NOW is the time to think about sowing them in some soil blocks and letting the heat of the day germinate them while you make basil pesto.  All your favorites are harvestable through the fall and kales and brussel sprouts are harvestable through the winter.  Go ahead and try it.  If you have some blocking mix left over from spring, great!  Now, round up some eggshells, hopefully well dried, and crush them up and add about a cup to the bushel of potting soil.  Brassicas LOVE slow release calcium.  After you made your blocks and seeded, ONE SEED PER BLOCK, as thinning if boring and time consuming, cover them with a sprinkling of potting soil slightly pressed down on the seed.  Brassicas take better to this soil covering.  Place them in the sun for germination.  Keep an eye on moisture levels in the sun and try bottom watering.  Once they have sprouted, place them in a partly shaded area, preferably a west or east exposure, but not southerly exposure unless a tree dapples shade across the blocks.  Give them a chance to grow for a bout 2-3 weeks in the blocks, fertilizing after 10 days if your potting soil didn't have a slow release nitrogen meal in it.  Now, transplant using the info found at www.pottingblocks.com/transplanting.html .  Finish enjoying your melons, peppers, and eggplants and patiently wait for the summer heat to pass and your brassicas to flourish.  Soil Blocks beats the heat everytime by keeping the roots cool, air pruned, and oxygenated while plastic pots in the sun will burn the roots, the roots will coil and then be broken up by transplanting.  This will severly stunt your crop.  So, avoid the "six pack syndrome" and use soil blocks, each and every time you sow.  Know the facts, Sow the packs, Harvest the stacks o' broccoli racks!