 We'll hello everyone and welcome to another episode here on the M.I. Gardner channel. I'm so excited for this episode in our ongoing series here titled How to Grow in Containers. This episode is going to be on broccoli however it will apply to Brussels sprouts and cauliflower so don't fret we will not be doing an episode on those simply because they apply to this episode maybe in the future but I just really want to get as many of these out as possible to help as many people as possible because the growing season is getting underway. So I know that a lot of people have asked for how to grow broccoli in containers so we're doing that one now but again if you're trying to grow cauliflower or you're trying to grow Brussels sprouts same exact thing will apply so let's talk about the pot size we're using the soil type that we're using fertilizer, sun, watering and that'll really just about do it maybe spacing as well I think we'll talk about that so let's go do that let's go to the potting station and this is one that's been going for about 30 35 days now looking great I'm really excited how they look so I want to stress that it is extremely easy don't worry okay don't worry I'll walk you through it let's go now let's talk about container size when it comes to the container that you're going to use it's all up to you and how much space you have and the stuff you have at your disposal here so what we have is a three and a half gallon container and a one and a half gallon container for the three and a half gallon container if you can have the space and you actually have it you want to use it I would suggest planting in this because you can plant three broccoli plants in this versus only one in this so it's all up to you and what you have and what you want to use but I'm going to be using this container because you can plant three plants versus one and you know it's basically what I'm trying to say is the fact that it's deeper and you got a lot more soil here you can plant one extra plant in here that you would not normally get in here even though the pot is really only proportionally maybe 50% larger now what we're going to do is we're going to talk about the soil type that we're using with the soil you want to use something that is very loose it's very well draining because of the fact that broccoli they need really well draining soil broccoli specifically do not like to have wet feet they're very prone to root rot and a disease called club root so what I want to do is is basically pack down the soil but I don't want it to be a soil that compacts there's a big difference and I'll show that to you in a second so we have here's our soil and what I mean by compacting is you want to press it down okay because because brassicas they like to have their roots in soil that is compacted and by compacted I mean packed down okay the difference is is that compacted soil is packed soil but the type of soil you use will prevent the plant from dying because see here how I just packed that down look it's still loose okay you try that with clay soil or or some type of like top soil mix or whatever the plant is just not going to do well you're never going to get the root penetration this is different this is packing the soil down to prevent club root but the roots are still going to be able to go right through see there you go so not a problem there now what I want to do is I want to plant my three plants and I'm just going to put them in a triangle around each other this variety is called sunking and it's a really good variety for containers because it it's early maturing so you're not going to be waiting you know 75 days to get broccoli and it's also really large heads I love how big the heads get on these sun kings it is a hybrid variety but it's something that you know when you're growing in containers heirlooms are great and I stress growing heirlooms if at all possible but sometimes some of the some of the hybrids are a little more container friendly let's put it that way so that's all we're going to do is we're just going to put them in there like that tamp down the soil and that's just about it that'll do it all right so now let's talk about sunlight requirements for your broccoli broccoli likes full sun between five and seven hours is going to be great I would not give them any less than five hours solely for the fact that they're not going to produce large heads for you a lot of times people forget that broccoli is actually a leaf crop broccoli grows its leaves and then when it comes to the flowering stage or the kind of bolting stage where it starts producing seed you're actually eating the immature flowers the florets of the broccoli up until that point it's just leaves growing and the only thing that creates a larger plant is nutrients which we'll get into and sunlight so I want to stress that the more sun you're going to give it the bigger and better your broccoli is going to be now they will be cramped in this pot I want to stress they're going to be cramped so if you're someone who's afraid of your plants or you you imagine them just screaming out from being too close or they might be claustrophobic don't worry your broccoli's not claustrophobic they're going to do totally fine they're just going to look very cramped and that's what you want because in container gardening sometimes you can't always have the nicest prettiest spacing a lot of times people you know they want to give them two feet spacing and two feet spacing to be honest is quite silly I laugh at two feet spacing because you're getting almost nothing out of your square footage where is this you're getting three plants in almost a square foot so vastly different from traditional ideologies with spacing but anyways like I said full sun they're going to do great and also when it gets into the nutrient aspect you just want to give them something that's rather high in nitrogen you can give them phosphorus and potassium so like I say always I use trifecta plus because it's geared towards all plants and the plants are only going to take up as much as they need but you need the nitrogen component if anything you need the nitrogen component and then I stress giving them a balanced fertilizer since they also like phosphorus and they also like potassium and there's other things in trifecta that makes it a really well balanced mix that is not found in many soils you have like the trace minerals and you have the microbes and the fungi that again if anything I would use trifecta in containers because you have an environment that you're trying to replicate the best environment outside in one of the smallest environments possible in a container so by giving them trifecta you're really going to give them the best chance of success however if you want to make your own or you want to go for it by mixing up a fertilizer your own one part blood meal to one part bone meal is great that's going to give you your nitrogen and your phosphorus and it's also going to have good calcium in there so that's a great mix for broccoli however also you're going to want some type of trace minerals and you're also going to want some potassium so green sand is a very good option for that so not to over complicate it you have options don't see I didn't give you options now what I also want to talk about is watering the plants like I said are going to be cramped you don't have to worry about how cramped they get because they're going to be fine as long as you keep them well water and keep them fertilized I forgot about fertilizer one more thing you want to fertilize about once a month okay these plants will take about 60 to 70 days to mature and so you want to fertilize them twice to make sure the plants stay healthy, stay growing and that's going to ensure they're going to put on nice large heads for you with watering now same thing you're going to want to water more frequently than you normally would in an in-ground garden because the fact that the plants are close together very cramped and the roots will take up every inch of this pot don't you worry it'll be very root bound the plants are going to use up that water very quickly and since it's in a pot as well the pot is going to be getting sunlight on all sides and air flow and so it's going to dry out much much quicker than it does in like a raised bed garden or an in-ground garden so I typically will water mine about three times a week if you're someone that's not used to watering three times a week at least make sure they get two times a week because part of the thing is the fact that you can have nutrients in your soil but the fact of the matter is that all plants require that that water to actually uptake the nutrients so if your soil goes bone dry your plants will show signs of nutrient deficiency even if you've just fertilized so that's very important and I think that is more important than your plants going limp because your plants your leaves can go limp and they can bounce right back but the fact of the matter is is that they're going to go through a period where they're not going to uptake nutrients and since your broccoli is in a container and it needs all the nutrients it can get to get to its fully mature state that it would get in a normal situation it's best to make sure that they stayed at least damp their whole life and again with the good soil mixture it's going to be well draining and it's not going to stay too damp it's going to flow out the bottom if you have too much water so hopefully that brings it all together I really I really hope you'll try broccoli it's something that's very easy to grow and it's something that although although it seems overwhelming when it's put into an episode like this crammed into the amount of time that I'm given it's really not overwhelming whatsoever it's a plant it's going to grow for you if you give it its basic necessities and in a container you want to you want to just cram it all together because you want to get the most out of your containers possible so in a nutshell that's really all you're doing so come on in let's uh let's do a closing and I'll let you on your way so you can grow some broccoli so there you go there is your container growing guide on how to grow broccoli I hope you all enjoyed hopefully you all will try broccoli I think it's a very easy plant to grow and it really grows itself I mean it's it's something that if you just keep up on the watering once you fertilize initially you don't even have to fertilize for another 30 days so you really just got to water it and forget about it and let the plant grow and it's going to do great so I hope you all enjoyed hopefully you try broccoli let me know in the comments box below if this inspired you to try broccoli containers or if you've ever tried them in containers and how he did for you so that might help people as well realize that it's not as hard as they think it is so I will talk to you all later this is Luke from the MIGERTER channel hoping you all are growing big or going home and I catch you later see ya bye