Broccoli

Broccoli is good for you and will more likely get eaten when grown at home. Fortunately, everyone in our family will eat broccoli. Now is the time to get the spring crop planted. It can also be planted in early August for a fall harvest.
This is one of my favorite vegetable crops to grow because it is very productive. After the main head is harvested, it will continue to produce side heads that can be harvested. Use wide spacing of up to 3 feet if you want to harvest large central heads. Closer spacing will produce smaller central heads. But if you harvest secondary heads you will get a greater total yield from the closer spacing.
Select short and stocky broccoli plants that have four or five true leaves for planting. Larger, older transplants are more likely to bolt when exposed to cool temperatures in the garden. Some cultivars will form small “button” heads when the weather turns warm following a 10 day stretch when high temperatures only reach the 40s F.
At transplanting, use a cup of liquid fertilizer that contains phosphorus to get them off to a quick start. Too much nitrogen fertilizer may cause hollow stems.
Plants have shallow roots. Use mulch or hand weeding verse cultivation. They like moist and well-drained soil. Give the crop one inch of water per week when rainfall is lacking. Be particularly generous with water as the head starts to develop.
Fertilizer applied will produce a large plant and a larger head. Sprinkle additional fertilizer after planting along the row every 2-3 weeks as the crop develops. Well manured gardens or soil with added compost will need less added fertilizer.
Full sun is best for quick growth. It will grow in part sun but will take longer to mature. Green Comet is the quickest at around 40 days. Packman takes 50 to 73 days. Premium Crop is a long one at 62 to 82 days.
The imported cabbage worm and occasionally the cabbage looper will want their share of the harvest. You can observe these caterpillars feeding on the underside of the leaves and in the broccoli head. Several insecticides can be used such as Bacillus thuringiensis or spinosad. I use a barrier called a floating row cover to keep the butterflies from being able to lay their eggs.
Planting now, one can expect to begin harvesting in mid to late June and July. Harvest the florets when they are tight and have a good green color. Once the buds start to open and yellow appears, it is getting late for harvest.