Winter Gardening - Why very yucky tasting Broccoli?

This has been our first year of gardening and we decided to extend the season into the winter. We are growing sprouting broccoli, spinach, and carrots under hoops covered with agribon and then a layer of greenhouse plastic stuff (all plants were started mid or late summer). We lift up the plastic on sunny days so it doesn't get too hot. Our carrots and spinach taste fine, but the broccoli is disgusting. It has recently made it's first sprouts but they are bitter and toxic tasting. Does anyone know what we did wrong? Maybe it got too hot under the plastic once or twice? Is all lost, or will future florets taste good?

The carrots have had whitish tips on some of them. I wonder if that is also an indication of too hot. Or maybe not enough water. Othewise they are lovely and sweet tasting carrots.

Also, if anyone has any other winter gardening tips, I'd love to hear them!!

My only idea is that Broccoli needs cool and even cold temps- could be the heat??

It is winter here (sometimes below freezing) and the covers help keep it from freezing at night. I guess I should see what the temp is inside the hoop during the day even with the plastic pulled up to keep it from getting too hot. Maybe the heat is still building up and we need to take the cover all the way off on sunny days...

Are you talking about BROCCOLI RAAB ?
I have tried them last year and puh puh puhhh too spicy and I did not really like them.
I read that Broccoli Raab are more in the mustard family ... and this will explain their taste.

No, it's not Raab, but thanks for the idea. We did grow this sprouting broccoli during the spring and it was great. I'm thinking either not enough water or it got too toasty under the cover. Or maybe the soil since it's in a different spot now. But the more I think about it, it must be one of the previous two....

What variety of broccoli are you growing? I'm having great success with mine.

I'm also wondering what "sprouting broccoli" is. A variety name would be helpful.

Technically all Broccoli is "sprouting" - that's what you eat (unless you fancy the leaves). There are strains of old European OP types that produce smallish central heads and lots of side shoot "sprouts". There are some F1 hybrids which produce numerous side shoots after the central head is removed. There are many Brassicas that never make proper solid central heads but instead form loose heads of flower buds; often these are simply varieties of Rape that are allowed to produce flower stalks. There are quite a few "sprouting" Brassicas grown in China and throughout the far East that are called "Broccoli" by courtesy because the flowering head is the part eaten (mostly "courtesy" of seed companies who want to sell seed and need the name to ring a bell with potential customers who don't have a clue what a Tsai Tai is or what to do with it). There are other oriental greens sold as "flowering kales" that are not actually kales at all, but which are sometimes also referred to as broccolis (which they also are not).

Sufficiently confused? Join the party! There have been books written by PhD's in Horticulture who have devoted careers trying to unravel the Brassica species and crosses (mostly without much long-term success). It doesn't help that members of the Brassica genus interbreed very freely. E.g.: "broccolini", a very expensive (and somewhat overrated) gourmet vegetable cross between broccoli and "something else". The identity of the "something else" depends on who you ask - some say "rape" but fail to mention if they are referring to the European "rape" or the green in the far East sometimes referred to as "rape" - neither of which in any case are Brassica oleracea.

It also doesn't help that the seed companies seem to insist on lumping together all the many varieties of Pak Choi under the general heading of "Chinese Cabbage" - which they decidedly are not, having different growing conditions, shapes, cooking requirements and (especially) flavors!

God, I really need to cut down on the caffeine!

-Rich

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.

It's the heat.

Or stress in general. Drying out + heat is a real flavor-killer.

-Rich

I agree with the heat thing...mine have been out all winter, with two nights down to 28°F. I don't even bother to cover them anymore. They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the cool. Mine seem to like it best between 45-42°F. That's when they stage their Winter Olympics!

Linda

Sorry for all the confusion on the type of broccoli. I have a few different varieties of "sprouting broccoli" which has loose florets instead of compact ones. Here are the links to the seed information:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8280-santee-f1.aspx
http://www.groworganic.com/pvfs-broccoli-di-ciccio.html -- 1890's Italian origin. This is the only one I've tasted so far and it's gross. It tasted amazing this spring/summer.

Thank you all for your advice. I don't think they were getting enough water either. I did not know that affected flavor. It's hard to know how much to water when there is snow out because the soil always seems damp. I guess it's better to water once a week no matter what? Maybe we should keep the covers up during the day even when cloudy if it's not too cold.

So now that it is bitter and yucky, do you think it will taste good in the future if we care for it properly or is it a lost cause?

I really appreciate all the input. This is our first year gardening and we've been pretty lucky so far. We turned most of our lot into gardens. I think our neighbors thought we were insane. Then when they heard we were going to grow food in the winter they also raised an eyebrow. Most people don't realize you can do that. We learned you can, now we just have to learn how to do it right. =)

Edited because it didn't publish everything I typed the first time.

This message was edited Jan 26, 2012 8:27 PM

DawnAlison,
I'm growing DiCiccio broccoli from Tomato Growers Supply this season. It's been fine. Once you cut the main head, keep watering your plant, and it should produce side shoots. All my broccoli has been "sweet".

Linda

I grow Di Ciccio and it has a nice flavor but like Rich and Linda said, heat and dry will make very yuckie broccoli.
Last year we had a very hot spring and also decided to plant late broccoli, plus we were in a drought. Not a good combination. The broccoli was so bitter we couldn't eat it. I ended up composting hundreds of broccoli plants. The plants were beautiful and made heads, but were nasty tasting. We have broccoli now (Gypsy, Belstar, Green Magic) and they are sooooooo sweet and good, but it is perfect broccoli growing weather.
Broccoli can take a frost, especially after the plants have some size. Don't let them freeze though, if it's going to be below 32, you will need to cover.
Frozen broccoli, Jan. 2010, freak freeze after 80 degrees!

In my experience (supported by quite a bit of Govt. and University research), broccoli can take down to 25ºF once it's established without much damage (University of Minnesota says 20ºF!). I've brushed ice off heads more than once (from Georgia ice storms) and they've turned out fine.

Of course, "damage" is relative and your view might depend on whether you're growing for your own table or for the market. You may get some discoloration of the heads - I've seen some purple pigment development in extreme cold - but it doesn't adversely affect the flavor. Reportedly the longer-maturing varieties tolerate more cold; that might have to do with a slower growth rate.

-Rich

I have to agree. I'm not growing any Cole crops this year but I have many times in the past and I never cover any of my winter veggies including Cole crops. It has gotten into the teens and I've never lost anything, except to goats. Lol. The lettuce gets burnt but comes right back. I just make sure that everything is well watered.

Cala-you are in an area that is usually much warmer, maybe your plants didn't have time acclimate.

Yep. Mine have been outside, overnight, uncovered down to 28° and nothing froze. But, it was only for one night (actually, just a couple hours toward the morning), and the sun was out, and temps up into the mid-40s the next day.

I have found broccoli to be good until the temps reach below 15 degrees F. Of course, many nights below 20 F likely would hurt them.

I was refering to younger plants. We rarely freeze (and yes, it can be 80 one day and frost the next). In my experience, if the heads aren't forming yet and the plant gets frozen, they will button or be misshapen, but if the plant has heads already no problem. In 2010 and 2011 during those freezes, there was ice on the heads and no damage. We had a frost last Nov. and broccoli under 6 inches tall was severly damaged. I grow for market, so appearance matters.

Ok, so mostly seedlings. That I have never had to deal with, we also have those wild temp shifts but we get colder more often so my plants aren't surprised. I also don't have the temps that allow me to grow such beautiful veggies all year long.

I believe we have about 285 growing days in Houston.

245 in Dallas ...
My first lecture on gardening in Dallas was at the Dallas Arboretum with Jimmy Turner.
He titled "Gardening in Purgatory" yuk .... that was incouranging ....

Drthor, that describes gardening in the Rio Grande Valley most of the time.

Well, we're "Gardening in Hell" here. It is what it is...