Growing broccoli for your dinner table is easy

For at least 2-3 months you can be eating fresh tasty broccoli spears by growing broccoli as calabrese or sprouting types. Broccoli is an excellent green vegetable for your diet and is loaded with anti-oxidants. Learn how to grow broccoli by following the tips below.

Rotation: As a brassica, after 'other' crops

Soil preparation: Any good soil on a sunny site will do. Add compost/ muck in the autumn to enrich the soil. Broccoli, like other brassicas are best planted in firm soil to allow good rooting so the plants can withstand wind blow through the winter. So, ideally soil should not be dug for a season before planting broccoli. Add lime over winter, if needed to raise pH, but ensure a 2 month delay after applying muck/ compost. Before planting apply a top-dressing of general purpose compost and rake in.

Sowing/ planting: Sow thinly in a short row 1cm deep. Germination should take 7-14 days. Thin seedlings to 8cm apart to produce strong young plants for transplanting. To plant broccoli transplant each young plant 0.5m apart into firm soil when the plants are 7-10cm tall, water thoroughly.

Maintenance:

• Water regularly in dry weather and add a mulch to cover the soil
• Liquid feeding in season can boost establishment and growth
• Support plants on a windy site. Good rooting is essential, notably for sprouting broccoli that grows for nearly a year
• Protect crops against those pesky pests: pigeons and cabbage white butterflies and their voracious caterpillars using a fine plastic netting over and above the crop held down or dug in round the edge
• Weed control - hoe carefully between plants to keep the plot weed free

Harvesting: Cut the flowering shoots/ spears once formed before the flower buds open. Start by cutting the central spear and then cut regularly to eat immediately - always cut young and eat fresh to get the best taste. Do no allow plants to flower otherwise NO more shoots will grow.

For more information

• on how to grow vegetables other than growing broccoli


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