Growing a Healthy Crop of Broccoli in Your Home Garden
by John Yazo
Broccoli is becoming a more popular crop to grow in the home garden due to it's popularity of being a healthy food source. It is a delicious crop that can be either eaten raw or cooked and is high in allot of vitamins and minerals.
It is a crop that prefers full sunlight, but semi-shade can help prevent it from bolting to seed in hot areas. It likes a soil that is rich, well drained and with plenty of organic matter, like compost.
Broccoli is an early crop. You can sow seeds directly into the garden as early as 2 months before the last expected frost in your area. It doesn't preform as well in hot climates and the quality of the crop isn't as good. Depending on the variety you choose the germination time can be anywhere from 45 days to 85 days. Care needs to be taken to choose a variety that is suitable for your area, one that will mature before the weather gets to hot.
If temperatures are a problem in your area you can sow your crop indoors about 8 to 10 weeks before the last expected frost in individual 1 inch deep pots covering the seeds with a 1/4 inch of soil. Keep these pots in a sunny location that can maintain a temperature of between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit while keeping the soil moist at all times. They are ready to be transplanted into the garden once they have reached a height of about 6 inches. These plants will need to be hardened off before they are transplanted outdoors to there permanent location.
When transplanting you will need to space the plants about 1 foot apart and in rows 2 to 3 feet apart, firm the soil around them and water deeply.
To get a good productive crop of broccoli you will need to keep them growing steadily. To do this side-dress the plants with blood-meal or fish-emulsion and water deeply 2 weeks after they have been transplanted or water with a manure or compost tea.
If you would like to comment on this website or have any suggestions please feel free to contact us
