'Calabrese' type-this is the big heads of broccoli as found in the supermarkets. Buy punnets of seedlings, and make sure they are well fed and well watered after planting out. Modern hybrids are fast growing, and if they are subjected to prolonged stress of drying, they may form tiny heads prematurely, and the plants come to nothing. Some cultivars are adapted to spring planting only, but the best known variety, 'Shogun', can be planted year round. |
'Shogun' also makes useful small heads from the sideshoots that develop once the main head is cut. Not all cultivars do this. Provide a fertile soil and don't let the soil become dry. Provide plenty of lime-pH 6.5 to 7.5 is the 'ideal' range. Plants growing in Spring, especially late spring, can end up with quite heavy green caterpillar infestation. This can be prevented by using light plastic netting to keep the butterflies out. The broccoli is ready to cut about 3 months from spring transplant.
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Broccoli, Sprouting type- this is perhaps the oldest, and least known form of broccoli. This type forms lots of small heads from sideshoots all over a rather bushy plant. There are purple sprouting varieties, and white. The white varieties look like multiple very small cauliflowers. Spring is the time people in cooler areas should sow sprouting broccoli. It is grown through the summer and carried over winter, for an early spring production the year following sowing. The advantage of sprouting broccoli is that, while it is not cauliflower, the white forms produce cauliflower like curds more easily than growing cauliflower itself, and the multiple small heads means that the serving sizes are right, with no waste. The disadvantage is the long time it sits around in the garden before it does anything.
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Broccoli, Raab type- A further variation on this theme is 'broccoli raab', where loose green sprouting heads (more like loose broccoli than cauliflower) are harvested and eaten with surrounding leaves. It has a bit of a mustardy taste to it, but it is otherwise similar to Calabrese broccoli in taste. Broccoli-raab is fast maturing small plant, being ready in only about a 1½ months. It can be sown virtually year round in warmer areas, and from spring through to late summer in most other areas. Sow the seeds about 50mm apart, and thin the plants to about 150mm apart. It stands some light frost. As with all broccoli, fertile soils and never being water stressed is the key. The cultivar 'Hon Tsai Tai' has purple sprouting heads.
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Broccoli, Romanesco type-this type of broccoli is also quite cauliflower looking. The head is made up of tightly packed yellowish-green conical florets arranged in an ascending spiral. Sow the seed in late autumn and early winter for spring harvest and in summer for autumn harvest. In mild areas, a sowing can be made in autumn for winter harvest. Allow around 30-45cm between plants. Culture is the same as Calabrese types.
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