Beautiful,Bountiful Broccoli

Image Gallery Photo:DAVID CAVAGNARO

GARDEN & YARD

By Chris Blanchard

Fresh from the garden, broccoli has an unbeatable, sweet, gourmet flavor. "It's like eating green!" according to my young son Zane. Plus broccoli is the most nutritious of the commonly eaten vegetables, loaded with vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, iron and fiber.

Although broccoli is closely related to cauliflower, brussels sprouts and cabbage, it is easier to grow and less susceptible to insect damage than any of those crops. Even the novice gardener can harvest a bountiful crop of broccoli for an extended time with a few simple tips. You can freeze any extra harvest for winter soups, quiches and casseroles.

Broccoli thrives in cool weather and grows best when daytime temperatures are between 70 and 80 degrees. Where summer temperatures rarely top 80 degrees, you can grow broccoli all summer. Here in northeast Iowa, we plant in spring and again in late summer to avoid having broccoli mature during the hottest part of the summer. In hot, southern locations, a winter crop may be your only option.

To beat the heat and get a jump on spring weeds, we start our spring crop in soil blocks or individual plant cells around March 7, a little more than five weeks before the last hard frost here in our valley (USDA Zone 4). In coastal regions of the Southeast and Southwest, where winters are mild and summers are hot, growers start transplants in early January for transplanting in mid-February. Organic farmer Andres Mejides of Elfin Acres in southern Florida starts his broccoli transplants around Sept. 1 for a winter crop that matures in the coolest part of their season. Whether you plant your seeds indoors or out, cover the seeds with 1/4 inch of soil or finished compost, and keep the soil moist for the best germination.

In general hybrid varieties provide the best production of central heads and better performance in hot weather. But the plants of a single hybrid variety tend to mature over a short period of time. To keep the broccoli coming, plant more than one variety at a time. For spring crops we plant 'Signal' for early harvest, along with 'Arcadia,' which matures about 13 days later.

Fast-growing, vigorous plants produce the best crops, and dodge or outgrow many of the pest problems that can plague broccoli. Prepare the soil well, adding about 5 gallons of finished compost for every 100 square feet.

Space transplants or thin seedlings 10 to 24 inches between plants in 30-inch rows. In beds set plants 18 to 24 inches apart in every direction. Use dose spacing for early, small varieties, and wider spacing for later, larger varieties. Widely spaced plants tend to produce more side shoots for an extended harvest. Set the transplants just slightly deeper than they were originally growing to encourage upright growth and a sturdy stem.