If you want easy access to a healthy vegetable that most anyone will eat, planting broccoli in your garden is second to none. It is extremely nourishing, has versatile serving options, and is simple to produce and store. It’s truly a vegetable that you can enjoy year-round without paying excessive prices—if you grow it in your garden.
Growing Broccoli
To produce a good crop of broccoli, you need to understand the ideal growing conditions, including the preferred climate, soil, and fertilization needs. Watering and sun exposure requirements are also crucial, along with controlling pests and diseases. Knowing when, where, and how to plant broccoli is the first step in ensuring a great harvest.
Broccoli thrives in cool climates, but it is sensitive to frost. Extremely hot weather is definitely its enemy. Early spring and late fall are the best seasons for growing broccoli, as temperatures should not exceed eighty degrees or drop below sixty-five degrees.
The soil for broccoli should be fertile, with plenty of organic matter added. It needs to remain moist but well-drained. Using mulch helps keep the soil moist and cool, creating optimal conditions for a prosperous crop. It’s also recommended to fertilize the soil about a week or two before planting.
It is best to plant broccoli in an area that receives full sunlight; however, it can still grow with minimal shade. Crop rotation is important when growing broccoli or other members of the cabbage family, as planting them in the same spot year after year can lead to problems. In fact, it’s advised to plant in a spot that hasn’t grown members of this genus for at least four years.
As for pest and disease control, broccoli generally doesn’t face many issues. However, pests like aphids, slugs, cabbage worms, and maggots may occasionally cause problems. These can be managed with beneficial garden insects or by spraying the plants with insecticide. Black rot, club root, and leaf spot are diseases that may sometimes affect broccoli crops. Rotating your crops helps prevent diseases. Club root can be managed by adjusting the pH with lime, but if you spot leaf spot, it’s best to destroy the plant to prevent the disease from spreading.
When planting broccoli, it’s best to use transplants, although you can also germinate them from seed. If starting from seed, it will take about six weeks before they are ready for transplanting. Before planting, it’s a good idea to use a liquid starter fertilizer on the transplants.
Transplants should be planted deep enough to cover their roots and spaced about one to two feet apart. In about sixty days (possibly longer), your broccoli will be ready for harvest. The part you pick is the flower head, and it should be harvested before the flower buds open. When you pick the main head of the broccoli, the side heads will continue to develop.
Storing Broccoli
After harvesting broccoli, it’s important to clean it thoroughly to remove any pests. This can be done by soaking the broccoli in a mixture of white vinegar and warm water (not hot) for about fifteen minutes.
Fresh broccoli can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. For longer storage, freezing is recommended. To freeze broccoli, cut it into pieces and blanch it in boiling water for about three minutes. Afterward, immediately transfer it to ice water for about three minutes, drain it, and then store it in zip-lock freezer bags. Frozen broccoli is “almost” as good as fresh and can be stored for up to six months.
Serving Broccoli
Broccoli makes a wonderful appetizer or side dish and is excellent in salads. However, serving it may seem a bit more challenging if you’re used to the pre-cut, ready-to-serve varieties found in the grocery store. When you grow your own broccoli, you’ll need to remove the leaves and the tough part of the stalk. You may choose to cut off just the buds to serve them, but the stalks are edible too. You can either remove the buds and cut the stalks into pieces or slice them lengthwise to make broccoli spears. Broccoli spears are great when steamed, and the cut-up portion is perfect for casseroles and soups. Of course, fresh broccoli flowerets are a delicious addition to salads.
For a nutritious vegetable, the versatility of serving broccoli makes it a top choice to grow in your garden.
