Broccoli

I'm not sure when my broccoli is ready to pick. I've heard that they're not ready, and I've heard that it's gone to far. Now I'm confused.
Here's one of the bushes:

Here's the other crown.

do you have any more pic's ?

the #2 looks good lil sm but hard to tell if it is done or if it needs to grow the #1 looks like it has split growing two bunches needs more water and constent watering like daliy in the eve when the sun goes down

Sarge

crissyr - your broccoli looks like it's about to flower. How long has it been planted? What are your temps like?
Broccoli will bolt if it gets too hot. The heads should be tight. I would pick #1 right away. It is still edible. If they were planted at the same time I would say pick #2 as well. Too far would be that they have flowered (bolted). I've eaten them when they are about to flower and they still taste fine...

My guess is it is getting too warm for them. I start broccoli in October and grow it over the winter here. It loves cool temps...

nods i had to look it up i have not grew any in a long time ...even went and asked a buddy of mine Kelly is right. fall crop round here .

Our temps for the past 2 weeks have been hot hot hot. 93* with heat index up to 105, every day except for last Thursday. We always water in the evening, every evening, unless it rains like it did the other day. The ground in the garden stays moist under the very top part of exposed dirt.

:( I can't grow them over the winter here, we'll start freezing around the beginning of Nov. We're 10 to 15 degrees above normal right now, we don't usually get this heat until mid to late August, I think these guys were planted in late March - early April. We only got about a week of spring weather, went from winter to summer real quick.

Argh I didn't want to hit send. What's weird is we have I think 7 plants out there, all planted at the same time, and these are the only two that is crowning, the others aren't. When I pick the broccoli off does the plant produce again or is it done and need to be pulled up?

We should probably plant it in say September and hope that the temps cool off like they're supposed to.

crissyr,

I wont know that untill we get the Green house up this fall me and the neighbor are going to put one up and set up some things . it should be fun.

What variety is your broccoli ? It makes a great difference in how it heads.
We plant only once. After you pick the first head, it keeps putting on more heads, usually 4 to 6 at a time. these will be smaller, but just as good or better than the original head. This will go on until fall if you keep them picked. If they flower, they will stop growing new ones.
We use Gypsy up here. We tried many before we found the one that works.

Bernie

93° is definitely too hot for broccoli...

Bernie is right - the variety makes a big difference. Some only produce a main head and that's pretty much it. Other varieties are excellent side shoot producers. I have had success with the hybrids Pacman and Early Dividend (my favorite). I like the Heirloom varieties but have only marginal success with them. The best Heirloom I have grown is Di Cicco - nice main head size and excellent side shoots...

crissyr - I'm in zone 7B same as you.

According to my gardening notes: last year I sowed broccoli seed outside on July 11th and started transplanting them on August 1st. Also, according to my notes, we were picking them daily beginning Nov 11th. These were "Bonanza Hybrid". After cutting the main head, they produce lots of side shoots.

Even if it gets cold during the winter they will keep going.

I will be sowing the same seeds again this year.

We went out and picked the crowns, #1 one was starting to flower so it got tossed, #2 is sitting in the kitchen and will be added to stir fry tonight, and Dave pulled the plants. He said within the next month he's going to have that whole garden tilled and ready for a fall harvest, except for the watermelon and cantaloupe plants. Our Blue Lake Green Beans are excellent, and the red potatoes were awesome. Corn is kinda difficult with the spring/fall storms knocking the stalks over, and I'm not sure if I want to do peas again, almost more trouble than it's worth.

I don't know what variety the broccoli is, Dave threw away the seed packet and he doesn't remember. I don't think he wants to do broccoli again.

Oh! We have carrots out there too. lol those were planted in the front flowerbed last year, they survived the harsh winter we had, and he transplanted them to the garden last April and they're still growing! I heard that you pull those when the tops die, is this true?

crissyr - you pull carrots when they are the size you want to eat them. Carrots are biennial, if you leave them in the ground they will eventually flower (see photo.) The tops don't die until after they have set seed in the second year.

Don't be surprised if your carrots are not straight, they don't take too kindly to being transplanted.

What happened to your peas that you don't want to bother with them again?

So glad I clicked on this thread cause I have 1 broccoli that started to flower several days ago. This is a store start that was planted in early May and, until yesterday in the mid-70s, we've had 60s, cloudy, rainy weather. Oh, I forgot, it was sunny the first week or so in May, but still cool compared to everywhere else. I was surprised they started to head to soon. I expected from my reading a lot more leaf growth. So, I really have to toss them? I can't write what I'm thinking! GRRRR

Probably was in the container to long.

I'm just not getting the yield on the peas, and they get to a certain height and die. I picked a huge bowl of beans and 10 pea pods. I'd rather buy peas at the store.

The carrots are a complete different issue. Those were planted along the edge of the not formed foundation of the house in extremely hard soil last spring. They didn't grow hardly at all, when we pulled one a few weeks ago after it had bloomed out to see what it looked like, the top just sticking out of the ground was was about 5" around, it ended up being about 1" long. We laughed and brought it into the house, it was worth the bite. LOL

I have had good luck with a hybrid carrot called Aarowhead. It grows big and straight in hard soils. Most of my beds are raised and very loose soil so carrots grow well. Also, if you grow the shorter carrots they do well in heavy soils too.

Peas are a cool weather crop. We plant here from October to January. The key is to ge them going while it's cool outside. There are also varieties that are more prolific than others. I prefer sugar snap peas - they produce 'til the cows come home. For shelling peas, I find Lincoln, Green Arrow and Wando to be good producers.

Countrygardens, I think you're right. While taking a walk earlier I was thinking about my broccoli problem and recalled that they sat in one of those 4-packs for almost a week while I finished my new veggie beds. Even though our air temps weren't that high, they were in the sun until mid-day so I'd guess that little bit of soil they were in got really hot. From what I've read online since finding this thread, it's the soil temperature that counts. Oops. Also, I read that it may be possible to save the plant by cutting it back and reducing soil temp so I'm giving that a try. I did taste them and they were good. If nothing else, I'm learning...

I am confused about my broccoli as well, they are so huge and take up a lot of room in my bed and their leaves block the sun from everything else! I am probably going to pull them up soon since they don't seem to be producing a lot of food for their size. One of my plants bolted and I wasn't sure what was going on, I was just waiting for it to look like grocery store broccoli!

Yikes! Grocery store broccoli, never.

Our plants are now about 30" across. I would imagine heads will be forming shortly. The plants were put out May 3.

Here are my carrots. I planted these fingerling seeds in potting soil in, of all things, a window box. Radishes in adjecent window box. We have many bunnies and gophers, so thought I would try these. They are yummy. I am going out of town for a week, so will also pull the other few left as no one else will enjoy them while I am gone. House bunny gets the tops.

This variety is Green Comet purchased from Bi-mart in a pony pak for 99cents in April. I keep it picked before any flowering - and laterals keep coming. The heads are not as wide as commercial crop but I cut them up anyway for stir fry. Along with Oregon Sugar Snap Peas and Joi Choy (all planted from pony paks in April) - it makes a good stir fry. Next time I will allow more space for the brocolli - as you can see it is a little crowded! Staying ahead of the harvest is tricky because it is tied to the weather - and the weather here changes back and forth from warm to cool all the time.

The rest of my broccoli is huge too, and not crowning.

These are sugar snap peas, we can't grow them when you do locakelly, it's already icing and snowing by the end of Nov here. The spring and fall seasons can be very short here, makes it difficult.

Nice looking veggies! Look at my crookedneck yellow squash plant, it's taking over everything!!

Hey guys - broccoli flowers are perfectly edible! The stalks get a little tough once they flower, but I've eaten them and lived ^_^

I'll agree that it's a little hard to know when they are "ready" so I wait until the heads begin to set flower - a hint of yellow. Cut them as soon as this is noticed and they will be fine eating.

I prefer to grow vegetables that have lots of nutritional value, and broccoli are top of my list.

Carrots need deep, loose stone-free soil to do well. Right now I have blooming carrots everywhere. They'll be pulled soon so I can set some broccoli seeds, but in the meantime the bees are having a banquet.

crissyr - I bet u can grow wonderful hot peppers there!! It looks like you are going to have some plentiful squash. Looks great!

crissyr - at least you'll have lots of squash! They look great! Maybe a short days to maturity variety of peas would work to get you a crop in your short season. Maybe try planting them at the end of summer and hope they beat the frost - lol...

Have you tried looking to see if your county has a planting calendar? Maybe they know some trick for successful peas - lol...

Great idea Kelly! Oh yea, we can grow some hot peppers, wonder why Dave didn't grow any, he loves hot peppers.

This is our second squash plant, the other one was attacked by squash bugs but we got about 3 weeks worth of squash out of it.

The key to beating those squash bugs and the squash vine borers is to plant as early as you possibly can, before they start their cycle of destruction - lol...

Ok,
Looks like I need to be ordering seeds right away. I was sorely disappointed with the Tomato seed germination rates from fresh TGS seeds I ordered this past season. Where're you all shopping for brassica seeds?

I buy most of my seeds from Burpee. Over the years, they have consistently had the best germination rates

We get tomatoes & peppers from Totally Tomatoes. Always close to 100% germination.
Best selection also, plus packet sizes we need.

Broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower we buy where we can get the varieties we want.

I'm with Bernie on the brassicas - whoever has what I want to grow. My favorite hybrid is Early Dividend. Having a harder time to find seeds. Found them at Veseys but it looks like they are not going to carry them any longer once their stock is depleted. They are carrying a new hybrid I think it's called Green Magic?

I have always bought seeds from WalMart, but they put them away after spring. They back -room them until the next years spring, so if I wanted to plant in the fall, they is no way to find seeds there. The same goes for most stores. Either I ha ve to stock up on them in the spring or order them from catalogues.

Ok. I just placed an order with three different suppliers.

We just go to Lowes and buy their seed packets, but when it comes to tomatoes I just buy a plant and stick it in the ground. I have some good looking green beefsteak tomatoes, can't wait for those to come ripe.

Yes, start all of your squashes early, we planted our seeds in mid March.

As far as catalog shopping, I always buy from Burpee, I could spend a fortune from them.

My broccoli bolted when I went on vacation and the bees were loving it. I left it until most of the flowers were gone before I pulled it, want to keep the bees happy.

If you would have cut the flowers off, you would have new heads form.
I wish the seed companies would give out better info on growing. All they tell you is the way the big commercial operations do it. Home gardeners are not set up that way.
Our broccoli is just getting started. We picked many big heads today. They will go to the farmers market tomorrow.

First tomato was last Tuesday, oww yummy. Took some to market Saturday & picked a bunch again today. These are in a high tunnel.

Strawberries are blooming again. Already some huge green berries on them. They will bear the rest of the year now.

Bernie

Am really liking this thread (probably due to my broccoli addiction) At zone 6, we can get a Spring and Fall crop. We've found our broccoli to have the best flavor, and therefore probably most nutrients, just prior to flowering. Next crop I would suggest (using a magnifying glass if necessary) to closely examine the 'flowers', or really 'bumps' at this stage- several weeks before they're due to flower so you're familiar with what they look like. At 'puberty' those little bumps will start swelling, and that's when its ready, just prior to actually flowering.

I've discovered a way to get more broccoli from a plant by eating the stalk. This is done at harvest by cutting the plant off about 1 inch from the ground.(which requires a GOOD knife, or a good man) Then we cut the broccoli off at the usual place for eating. Take the remaining heavy stalk and steam for about 20-30 min. Cool slightly. Then I put the stalk on a large cutting board and slit down the middle to expose the interior. There is a sort of broccoil paste which can be easily scooped out with a spoon. The flavor somewhat reminiscent of artichoke and with a bit of mayo or olive oil is delicious.

Yoshi,
That is waaaaaaaaaaaaay cool! Thanks for posting about the stalk.