Broccoli
Introduction
Broccoli is a great vegetable to grow at home or an allotment, particularly true broccoli varieties that produce small colourful heads on long edible stems. The range of varieties makes it possible to harvest broccoli from summer into autumn, and overwinter plants to produce a spring harvest when little else is available.
Planting
- Planting depth: 1 cm
- Planting spacing: 45cm between plants, 60cm between rows
Harvesting
- Broccoli, March to May
(1 year after sowing) - Calabrese, August to October
(sow spring, harvest late summer)
(inside)
(outside)
(fresh)
(stored)
= jar, = freeze, 
= store
Varieties
Calabrese is the large green headed broccoli commonly purchased in supermarkets. The other main type of broccoli, and frequently grown by gardeners, is sprouting broccoli. The main differences are as follows:
- Calabrese
Calabrese is relatively fast growing. It is sown in the spring and eaten in late summer and autumn. It is slightly more tender and sweet than sprouting broccoli, and forms larger heads for eating. - Sprouting Broccoli
Sprouting broccoli is relatively slow growing. It is sown in the spring and is ready to harvest late winter or the following spring after overwintering. The heads are relatively small, purple or white in colour, turn green during cooking, and have a more intense broccoli flavour.
Calabrese has the advantage of maturing faster and having larger heads. Set against this is that calabrese is easy to buy in the shops, is relatively to cheap, and the varieties and flavour of homegrown calabrese is not greatly different from what you can buy. F1 varieties are worth consideration as they are bred for reliability and to harvest earlier in the summer.
Sprouting broccoli has a delicious flavour and has a big advantage with the timing of the harvest, as there are not many other vegetables available to pick in the spring. Whilst sprouting broccoli is available to buy in the shops, it is relatively more expensive, and white and purple varieties are seldom seen. By growing sprouting broccoli, a gardener can harvest something difficult to buy. The main disadvantage of sprouting broccoli is the long growing time together with the size of the plants. At nearly sixty centimetres wide and about 1 metre tall, these are big slow growing plants that take up a lot of space.
The easy way for a gardener to organise their growing and discover gardening ideas.
Growing
Both calabrese and sprouting broccoli varieties are susceptible to bird attack who love to munch on their leaves. Cabbage white butterflies will also lay their eggs on the plants, followed by a caterpillar attack that will devour the leaves. Both issues can be prevented by using a butterfly net.
The growing method for calabrese and sprouting broccoli is different.
Calabrese
- Sow seeds in situ as the roots do not like being disturbed. Place two or three seeds per station, and then thin to leave the strongest seedling.
- Plant the seeds to a depth of 1cm depth
- Cover with a net after sowing to protect from birds
- Water to avoid the plants drying out
- Harvest July to October
When harvesting calabrese in late summer or autumn, keep an eye out for any caterpillars that may be hiding in the heads. Soaking the heads in a sink of cold water soon after harvesting can help remove any pests hiding between the green flower buds.
Sprouting Broccoli
- Sow in seed trays (greenhouse / plastic growhouse etc.) and transplant to a distance of 45 cm apart
- Cover with a net after sowing to protect from birds
- Water to avoid the roots drying out
- In autumn, support by creating a frame of wire strung between stakes. This will help prevent the approximately 1m high plants being blown over in strong winds.
- Harvest March to May
Broccoli is ready to harvest when their green or purple heads have formed. Pick the central stem first as this can encourage the formation of more side shoots. The heads are actually clusters of flower buds. If you leave harvesting too long, the heads will break out into pretty yellow flowers.