broccoli

[bikermike]

I have a lot of vigorous, verdant, leafy broccoli... with nary a head to be seen... Do I need to just be more patient, or are there things I can do to encourage it? (knowing my luck, it will flower late, and the spurple prouting in the next bed will be early...)

Mike

[Plot70]

Mine just produced a few little flowers and green cauliflower did the same.
Kolhrabi and kale have done well though.
Spinach also bolted.

[Snadger]

It depends whether its Broccoli or Calabrese? Calabrese should mature before winter as its not frost hardy,whereas broccoli matures in spring methinks.

[ameno]

Keeping watered, but that's about all you can do.

I don't grow normal large-headed broccoli anymore as I find it unreliable (the heads it produces are never as big as the ones in the shops, and one in five plants usually ends up blind). I grow tenderstem broccoli instead. Very reliable, very quick (starts cropping 60 days from sowing in warm conditions), and keeps cropping for a long time (I've been picking mine since the beginning of June, and it's still going strong).

[Snoop Puss]

^That's a good recommendation, ameno. Any particular variety?

Bikermike, when did you sow them and plant them out? It may be you just need to be a bit more patient.

[SimpleSimon]

Can second the recommendation for tenderstem brocolli. I've been harvesting my weekly for about 5 weeks. It was some early type. It's prolific and I've got way too many plants. You have to harvest it regularly tho or the shoots just flower. But when you do harvest more just shoot up.

[ameno]

^That's a good recommendation, ameno. Any particular variety?

Bikermike, when did you sow them and plant them out? It may be you just need to be a bit more patient.

I'm growing Green Inspiration this year. Previously, I have grown Brokali. They seem about the same, really.

There aren't actually many varieties available yet, and the seeds are more pricey than normal broccoli, as they are all F1 hybrids (it's a cross between normal summer broccoli and Chinese broccoli), but they're worth it for how easy, quick and heavily cropping they are. Just make every seed count (single sow them all in pots).

[bikermike]

^That's a good recommendation, ameno. Any particular variety?

Bikermike, when did you sow them and plant them out? It may be you just need to be a bit more patient.

Planted in pots 29 Feb, planted out 23 May - it's Calabrese Matsuri F1
Google says "

Also good for growing in containers or on smaller plots, the small, green heads are packed with flavour and can be ready for harvest in late May from a February sowing!"

[ameno]

Planted in pots 29 Feb, planted out 23 May - it's Calabrese Matsuri F1
Google says "

Also good for growing in containers or on smaller plots, the small, green heads are packed with flavour and can be ready for harvest in late May from a February sowing!"

That's a long time in pots. Usually brassicas are ready to plant out in 4-6 weeks.
They don't like being pot-bound, so maybe they spent too long in pots before you planted them out?

[Snoop Puss]

^I agree with ameno, I'm afraid, Bikermike. How many leaves did they have when you planted them out, do you remember? I usually try and do it when they're at the four to six-leaf stage.