General Culture: Click for monthly care information.
Start seeds indoors six weeks before setting outdoors or purchase transplants. Set out plants between the end of March and mid-April for a late spring harvest and again in late July to early August for a fall harvest. Broccoli needs fertile, well-drained but moisture-retentive soil. Can tolerate some heat, and if past seedling stage, several degrees of frost. One of the easiest of the flowering Brassicas to grow.
Noteworthy Characteristics:
Plants can be harvested in their entirety young or allowed to grow into large plants for picking over a long period. Slow growing; 60-70 days to full maturity. For mature plants, take main flowering shoot first, just before flowers open, then two cuttings of resprouts.
Problems: Click for detailed list of pests and problems.
Potentially subject to all the common Brassica pests and diseases, but on the whole is quite hearty. Is susceptible to downy mildew and readily bolts in warm weather.
Uses:
Young flower shoots, flower stalks, buds, leaves, and flowers can all be used. Can be prepared in salads or steamed, boiled, stir-fried, or cooked alone or with meat, chicken, shrimp, or prawns.
© Missouri Botanical
Garden, 2001-2010
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