The Ultimate Guide to Growing Calabrese Broccoli

Calabrese broccoli is known for being rich in nutrients and what can be better than home-grown broccoli that you can be proud of. Many people love it fresh, whereas some prefer to stir fry their broccoli before consuming this nutrient-rich delight. It is not as hard to grow broccoli as many people consider it to be. Following a few simple steps would help you grow this nutrient-rich delight right in your backyard.

Broccoli growing

©Thompson & Morgan – It is not as hard to grow broccoli as many people consider it to be!

Sowing

Broccoli seeds must be sown in from March to July. To enjoy the continuous flow of homegrown broccoli, you can sow a few plants every month from April to July.

Calabrese broccoli is not a fan of root disturbance. Hence a modular seed tray can be the perfect choice to start your seeds. Fill the tray with compost and remove any excess soil. Now create a depression in the soil using your fingertip and sow 1 seed per module. After this, cover your seeds with another layer of soil and brush off the excess to make sure the seed is properly covered.

Once you are done with the sowing of seeds, water the soil gently, to avoid disturbance of the soil. The tray can now be placed in a polytunnel, windowsill, cold frame, or your greenhouse. The seeds must be ready to be planted out in about 5 weeks. Once this process of is complete, you can move on to the planting step.

Planting Out

Vegetable gardening is most successful if you take care to choose the right position for your crops. Calabrese broccoli is a sun-loving crop. Choose a location in your garden that has six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. The young plants must be transplanted at a distance of 45cm to 65cm apart to allow the plants to develop, and impress your neighbours.

young broccoli plant

©Shutterstock – Choose a location in your garden that has six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. 

To plant the seedling, use a trowel to dig a small hole in the soil a little larger than the “plug plant”.  Once you have successfully planted the seedling, use your fingers to carefully press the soil back around the roots. Now gently water around the plant to settle the soil.  

Watering

The plant must be watered frequently as broccoli loves moisture to grow. However, make sure the soil does not turn soggy due to constant watering; otherwise, it would hamper the plant’s growth. Investing in a decent hosepipe can be a useful addition to your vegetable plot to save you time and effort.

watering brassicas

©Shutterstock – Keep Broccoli plants well watered.

Harvesting

This is one of the most critical parts of growing broccoli. If you miss the correct timing of harvesting your broccoli, then the heads will go to seed and be inedible.

Depending on the month of sowing and overall weather conditions, your Calabrese should be ready to harvest between July and October. Once the heads are four to seven inches with dense and tight flower buds, it is the right time to harvest your broccoli. If you notice that the flower buds are starting to open, then harvest immediately without any further delay.

Don’t panic if you end up with too much Broccoli all at the same time. If you have too much then the spare heads can be frozen and used later.

Cooked Broccoli

©Shutterstock – Broccoli makes a tasty and nutritious side dish.

Find more growers’ guides and other delicious crops to enjoy at our brassicas hub page.

Storm Force Caterpillars and Losses Cut

There’s this story going around that there’s only a month or so left to go of summer before it fades to autumn. Well that’s handy as I was starting to tire of the endless heat haze and Long Island iced teas.

No? Well, if reality has to get dragged into it, who else here has been casually eyeing up the cosy knits heap at the bottom of the wardrobe, or maybe even sneaking on the central heating?

Just for fun, here’s a definition of Beaufort Wind Scale 7:

‘High wind, moderate gale, near gale … whole trees in motion, inconvenience felt when walking against the wind.’

A few days ago these were the outdoor conditions here; the obvious time to finally sort out the caterpillars cheerfully laying waste to the veg growing in various pots on the patio.  Sprouting broccoli, by now gone over anyway so no real loss, but more importantly the clutch of sprouts intended for Christmas, and which had been grown from seed.  All under attack from the young of the Large Cabbage White.

So, head bent into the wind and with grim determination, the Eviction of the Caterpillars commenced.

Some things I learned:

They like hanging around in packs. I say ‘packs’, apparently the proper collective noun for a group of caterpillars is an army.   That kind of sounds wrong though, too overblown.   They’re actually more like those groups of teenagers you sometimes get around bus stops.  All faux-swagger, but basically a bit timid under it all and preferring safety in numbers.  So, maybe it should be a skulk of caterpillars.

Whatever, as with any skulking teens, they had to move on. This would have happened a lot faster had I known the next bit.

Now, all over the munched sprout leaves were these odd, tiny clumps of mushy green, well, ‘stuff’.  Look again at the first picture above. There it is, all around the stem.  Turns out, somewhat grossly, this is actually caterpillar vomit. The semi-regurgitated leavings of the plants they have been nibbling away at.  Sorry to make you choke on your Long Island iced tea, but there we have it.

Apparently they do this when they are being predated to put off whatever is trying to eat them, according to those in the know at the National Geographic.  Kind of glad I hosed the plant off afterwards.

So, caterpillars despatched to the compost bin together with all ravaged leaves and spent broccoli, losses were cut.  Might still get at least a small handful of sprouts for Christmas, which is all anyone wants anyway.

 

Also this week, wasps claimed the remaining super-ripe Victoria plums for themselves, eating them practically down to the stones. For some reason, I didn’t fancy getting quite so hands-on with the wasps, so left them alone to get on with it.

All of which brings us to the question of pest control. Having always opted for non-chemical means of control for anything grown to be eaten, it does seem we’ve only ever done this in an ad-hoc way, after damage has been done.  Maybe there is a better, preventative approach?

I’m not talking about anything too labour- or time-intensive though. What quick, nifty tricks are there?  Wasp traps are one way I’ve spotted, not that I’ve used these (they look a bit grisly).

I suspect some cold hard cash will have to spent on proper kit to keep the pests off such as netting.

What are your secret tricks and shortcuts?  Oh, and if it’s budget-friendly, we’ll love you forever.  The pests, not so much.

Comment below and share your experiences…

Deck the halls with ….romanesco?


Grow your own dramatically different Christmas veg.

Let’s face it; like Brussels sprouts, brassicas like broccoli and cabbage, have had a bit of a bum rap over the years. However, they have recently been enjoying some really good press and are even looking quite cool in the vegetable ‘it crowd’, trending heavily and inventively in culinary circles, restaurants and in those classic Christmas gift favourites, the celebrity chef cook book.

So why not give these colourful and super nutritious vegetables a place at your Christmas dinner table this year? In festive magazines and online, you’ll find numerous interesting and tasty recipes to present them at their best. And then you can grow some yourself ready for next Christmas!

Cauliflower has had a bit of a rebrand in the last year or so; no longer the bland horror of school dinners, but now appearing on menus sliced, seasoned with chilli, garlic and cumin and served as a ‘steak’; or grated, sautéed and used instead of rice as part of one of the low-carb diets that are doing the rounds.

Broccoli too has a new friend in the Instagram fitness sensation, Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach. His speedy, tasty and nutritious recipes often include ‘midget trees’ – broccoli florets – and indeed a 25% increase in tenderstem broccoli has been attributed in part to the online nutrition coach’s Lean in 15 recipe programme.

But the real star in the brassica family has to be broccoli’s handsome Italian cousin, the stunning romanesco. With its whirling, almost alien-looking spirals, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this vivid green marvel is some kind of genetically engineered vegetable. In fact, romanesco has been around since the 16th century and predates broccoli and cauliflower. Sometimes referred to as caulibroc or broccoflower, the flavour of cooked romanesco sits somewhere between cauliflower and broccoli, but with an added tasty ‘nuttiness’. Needless to say, it’s full of good stuff: super-rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, fibre – you name it. The thing is, due to its fabulous pointed, whorled spears, romanesco doesn’t travel terribly well. Supermarkets find it difficult to store and package. You might find them on a nice farmers’ market stall, but the best way to get your hands on these fabulous green natural marvels, is to grow your own.

So if you’re ready to up your brassica game at home, take a look at the wide range of varieties available from Thompson & Morgan. Whether you choose to grow broccoli, cauliflower or romanesco, you’ll find brassicas are easy to grow.

Here are some top tips for growing brassicas from Thompson & Morgan’s Veg Guru, Colin Randell:

  • Grow your cauliflower, broccoli and romanesco in soil that’s been well prepared.
  • Keep well watered especially during dry spells.
  • Brassicas enjoy a fortnightly liquid feed, particularly a seaweed feed, if possible.
  • If feeding or watering is erratic, this may mean head development is not as good.
  • Pick cauliflower and romanesco heads when young – you can keep a watchful eye on how they are developing by peeling back the protective leaves.
  • Many gardeners use protective garden fleece, especially when growing small cauliflower and romanesco.

Head over to our brassicas hub page to find all of our best brassica guides and variety recommendations in one easy place. To grow your own visually stunning and super tasty romanesco, click here. Seeds are available for £2.29 for 125 seeds. And to check out Thompson & Morgan’s full brassica range, go to www.thompson-morgan.com/brassicas

Gardening news – why broccoli is so good for you

Gardening news - why broccoli is so good for you

A new reason to eat your greens!

Eating broccoli may help to slow the progress of arthritis
According to new research, the first study into the effect of sulforaphane, a compound found in cruciferous vegetables, on joint health shows that eating broccoli may reduce cartilage damage and osteoarthritis. So far tests have only been carried out on mice, human cartilage cells and cow cartilage tissue, but this new research shows that it could help to slow the progress of the disease which affects 8.5 million people in the UK. Scientists involved in the research are now keen to see how it works in humans. There is currently no pharmaceutical treatment for osteoarthritis and this may show that treatment through diet could be a safe alternative.

Gardening news - why broccoli is so good for you

Record sightings of slugs

Keep an eye out for slugs
Is the advice from the folks at slugwatch.co.uk. They’re asking members of the public to log sightings of slugs, especially large numbers of the slimy critters. They’re particularly interested in hearing about Spanish slugs, which were first spotted in the UK in 2012 and have the potential to be a problem. They reproduce in much larger numbers than native species and experts trying to find out whether the Spanish slugs have bred with our native species. If this is the case, it could mean that the new ‘hybrid’ slugs are able to tolerate different conditions, even frost tolerance. They’d also like to know if predators such as hedgehogs or birds are spotted eating them, as slug slime is often a deterrent.

Invasive beetle deals new blow to ash trees
The Emerald Ash Borer beetle (EAB) is making its way across Europe from the Far East and poses a significant threat to ash trees. Already prolific in North America, where it has spread up to 25 miles each year and killed tens of millions of trees, it has also been in Moscow since 2007 and the population is spreading. In the UK, several biosecurity measures are already in place to prevent the accidental introduction of EAB.

 

To find out more about growing your own brassicas, head over to our brassica hub page for growers’ guides, recipe suggestions, and our own range of plants and seeds.

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