Brocolli in bins

[maytreefrannie]

Advice please - I have a few brocolli plants in a bin and they seem to be growing OK (between bouts of being eaten). Is it OK to leave them grow on in the bin or do they have to be planted out.

With so much rain all summer, the garden is really messy and I'd prefer to leave them in their bin if I can.

I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have - I've read so much wisdom on these forums I'm sure someone will enlighten me.

Thanks.

[daylily]

With summer/autumn broccolis you should be OK if not overcrowded.

Sprouting broccoli for spring harvest is a rather large plant for bins, maybe one a large bin.

[maytreefrannie]

Thanks for the advice, Daylily - as there are only a few plants, I think I'll let them grow on in the bin and see how they turn out.

You've made me interested in Spring brocolli as well - so I might give that a go. I haven't grown it before.

[Cutecumber]

What size is this bin?

Do you mean green calabrese - this is actually what the large green heads that we buy in supermarkets are called - or the larger purple sprouting broccoli?

Calabrese are not enormous plants but need about a foot or more spacing between them. They won't head up if you leave them too close together.

[maytreefrannie]

I started the broccoli off in a bin to grow a little and harden,
intending, when it was big enough, to plant it out in the garden.

But –
the rain it raineth every day from early June till now
the garden is a soggy mess – a damp and squelchy slough.

Best results came from carrots in bins (to outwit the carrot fly) –
the broccoli too grow along well to about six inches high.

Then –
the bin became an apartment block; cabbage whites had their families there.
they left the brocs in a sorry state, eaten away and bare.

Now –
they’re growing back again with nature’s drive and fire -
are they best left where they are (‘cos the garden’s still a mire)?

The bins are plastic, two feet high, sturdy, two in number,
and that’s my broccoli saga, thanks for your interest, Cutecumber.

[Demeter]

How many plants have you got in the bins
and how big are they in terms of surface area?
(ugh, and I know how you feel about caterpillars,
they just get bigger and fatter and hairier!)

[maytreefrannie]

I wondered if they had room enough,
so daughter did the measuring stuff,
Four cauliflowers grow in each bin:
surface diameter 15 in.
That's 38.1 in centimetre -
there was plenty space for caterpillars, Demeter
(as you said, they're hairy and not very nice),
I'd value any further advice.

[Demeter]

For four those bins will be too small -
At best you might get two in,
But broccoli is both wide and tall -
Even two is trouble brewing.
Have you other containers about
Where the extras could be placed?
If not you may have to pull some out
Or you'll end up with nothing to taste!

[maytreefrannie]

I found extra bins and followed your suggestion -
There's two in each now and that's roomier, no question.
The brocs are comfy and generally look better -
All thanks to your rhyming advice, Demeter.