Space plants 45cm apart in rows 45cm apart. Summer broccoli can be closer and winter broccoli needs plenty of room.
Broccoli (aka Sprouting Broccoli) produces sweet, tender spears, either white or purple at the tips of long stems.
The colours come from the flower buds poking out at the top of the spears. This is not the “broccoli” sold in supermarkets with a very big head. If that is what you are after you need to grow “calabrese”.
Broccoli can withstand very cold winter temperatures and keeps growing through the hardest of winters. Traditionally, sprouting broccoli was ready from January to May. A welcome change at the end of winter. But new varieties have come along which can be harvested from June to December.
Winter varieties are very slow growing and take up a lot of space. The earlier varieties are smaller, develop quickly but are not so productive.
Soil Preparation
Dig plenty of farmyard manure or garden compost into the ground. Prepare the soil so that it is fine and crumbly. Level it off and firm it down. Walk over it several times because broccoli grows best in very firm soil.
Plant Out
Broccoli is ready to plant out when the plants are 15cm tall and have at least four true leaves. The tiny cotyledons, seed leaves, don’t count.
Soak the pot of plants with water the night before planting out.
A dull, damp day is ideal for planting out. The young plant will lose a lot of water and dry out if it is hot and sunny. In hot weather transplant at the end of the day so that the plant has a chance to settle down over night.
Take the plants out of the pot by placing a hand over the plants and tipping the pot upside down. The soil ball will fall out of the pot into your hand. Turn the ball the right way up and gently tease the roots apart to separate out one plant.
Make a hole in the ground that is as deep as the roots are long. Place the plant in the hole so that the bottom leaves are almost at soil level. Gently push the soil around the roots to fill in the hole.
Hold the leaves to keep the plant vertical whilst firming the soil down. Broccoli responds to very, very firm conditions.
When all the plants are in, water them well. Keep the soil damp for a week or so, until the plants look well established.
Weeds
Pull weeds out as they appear. This will remove any competition for water and nutrients.
Protect the plants with insect mesh. This will keep the cabbage white butterflies out. Watch out for pigeons. If they are a problem, put bird scarers out or cover with mesh.
Support
After a couple of months, the tall stems may need supporting. This will stop them blowing over in the wind and keep them upright so they do not fall into each other. Knock a stake into the ground so that it is firm and tie the stalk to the stake. Mounding soil around the base of the stalk will also help stabilise the plant.
Harvest
Pick the spears as soon as the flower buds appear. They should be about 10cm long with a few tiny leaves.
Keep picking the young shoots before the flowers come out. The photo below shows shoots that should have been picked earlier!
Varieties
To spread the harvest, and to ensure a continual supply of greens, plant three different varieties: early, mid-season and late broccoli. The early broccoli will be ready from June and the late varieties will provide welcome greens in late spring when there is not much else about.
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