Broccoli bolts

[catjac1975]

I do a fall crop of broccoli directly into the soil. Planting different varieties can show you what works best in your area. I am just getting a crop now and planted them out May 8th or so. We had a long cool spring-perfect for broccoli and it's relatives.

 

[Hal]

Broccoli is the vegetable of choice in the winter produce aisle. I don't know why we want to grow it in the garden every year but we do.

I've learned to check it carefully for bugs and what to do to get rid of them if they show up. I've studied the buds to better know when to harvest. I've figured out just about how much good "broccoli weather" we are likely to have and matched that with an appropriate variety - Premium Crop can take a little too long, Packman is just about right.

Usually, the broccoli is real nice. The wild card is the rabbit. Bunnies ate all the plants to naked stems last year. I have saved plants when only leaf tips were eaten and had nice plants later. It just took fertilizer, hilling and water.

This year, most of the plants formed buds 2 or 3 weeks early. Everything is tiny! I have no idea why this happened. There hasn't been any hot weather. They look healthy ... Anyway, I'm planning on being there today with more fertilizer and a hoe to hill them. All buds have been cut off. Maybe we will get some nice broccoli yet, Carol Dee!

Steve

A sudden decrease in temperature can have the same effect as a sudden increase, did you have an unusually cool spell at all?

I still remember having a bed of broccoli coming along well and then we had a sudden drop in temperature and it bolted faster than me at the end of a work day.

 

[digitS']

Well, that would make it like bok choy, Hal.

No one talks about that veggie without mentioning how it will bolt with the heat. A hard frost will have the same result.

The broccoli was not out there before the last frost and we still haven't had a day above 28° Celsius.

Here's a thought. They are in ground that was a hay field until last spring. Maybe the soil still isn't good garden soil, yet. It has taken about 3 years to have good gardens when I have done this sort of thing before. The sunflowers are going great guns; the pumpkins did real well last year. This doesn't mean all the veggies liked it then or now.

Steve