Hi I'm Tricia an organic gardener. I grow
organically.
For healthy and safe food supply. For
clean and sustainable environment.
For an enjoyable and rewarding
experience.
You may have had a hate-hate
relationship with broccoli as a kid
but fresh picked broccoli from the garden
may even inspire
the pickiest child. The part of the plant
that you eat is actually the
un-opened flowers. Broccoli, and its cousin
cauliflower,
grow best in cool weather with daytime
temperatures
in the 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The best
soil for broccoli
is well-drained, fertile soil that's high
in organic matter.
Don't overfeed with nitrogen though because that can cause a disorder called hollow stem.
Some compost and an organic vegetable
fertilizer should be enough for your
broccoli crop.
Most all the varieties of broccoli are good
crops for spring and fall.
If you're planting in the fall? You can
just direct sow the seeds.
If you're planting in the spring start
from transplants. Direct seed broccoli in
mid-summer for fall crop.
Plant the seeds about three inches apart
and then thin
to the final spacing when the seeds have
their first true leaves.
Seed broccoli in trays or soil blocks
six to eight weeks before the last frost.
For more information on growing starts,
check out our video
"Seedling Care." It's important to
transplant broccoli at the right time.
If you leave them in the trays too long
they won't mature properly.
Transplant broccoli seedlings into the
garden when they're four to six weeks old
and have four to five true leaves. Space
the transplants 12 to 20 inches apart.
Wide spacing is good for one big
broccoli head
and if you want smaller heads, just do
shorter spacing.
Consistent even watering is important
for broccoli
a drip system on a timer works really
well. Mulch is going to help keep an even
moisture.
It will also discourage weeds, which can
be troublesome for the broccoli's
shallow root system. When growing  broccoli
the biggest problem is you have to watch
out for are stress, aphids,
club root and several species of
caterpillars.
The biggest stressors for Broccoli
are improper watering and temperatures
that can either be too hot or too cold
those are probably the trickiest things about growing broccoli. Aphids can be dealt
with by cleaning them off with a blast
of water,
adhesive traps, ladybugs and as a last
resort
an organic insecticide labeled control
aphids.
You can avoid club root by practicing
crop rotation.
Don't plant any member the Brassica
family
in the same bed unless you've had four years of rotation.
If you already have the club root pathogen,
you can raise the pH to about 7.2
using Oyster shell lime and that will
help combat this disease.
The caterpillars of several varieties
of moth,
such as the cabbage looper, will do
damage to your broccoli
and the first line of defense is to put
an insect barrier
like this Agribon over the crop. In the
case of caterpillars,
the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Releasing parasitic wasps
like the Trichogramma wasp, can be
helpful to control broccoli
munching caterpillars. Another good
control is this safer caterpillar killer
and its labeled to control cabbage loopers.
It's made from Bacillus
Thuringiensis, a naturally occurring bacteria.
Your broccoli is ready to harvest when
the head is 3"-8"
inches across and the individual buds
are plump and still dark green.
Cut the stem six inches below the head
with a sharp knife.
You can leave the plants in the ground
and they'll likely send of some more side
shoots
and you can harvest the leaves and eat them like kale.
So grow some broccoli and Grow Organic for life!
 
 