HOW TO GROW BROCCOLI - The Steps Every Gardener Needs to Know

Welcome Friends Petrina here with homegrown  Florida and today we are going to be talking   all about broccoli this guy right here look at him   he's ready to be harvested I'm going to show  you exactly how to grow broccoli including how   to harvest this guy right here so I always start  broccoli from seeds I think this is one of those   vegetables that are just very easy to start  from seed it reminds me a lot of lettuce but   I don't necessarily encourage you to start from  seed direct seeding broccoli can be a bit of a   diva when it's young and so I strongly encourage  you to start these guys in trays you are going   to have much more success if you start them in  trays doesn't mean it's impossible it's actually   completely possible to grow them direct seeded  I have done this I have another bed where I have   broccoli that is direct seeded it just seems to  take longer it also bolts faster we're going to   talk about what that means exactly and the bugs  really go after it when it's young and it's very   frail when it's young so starting them in trays  even outside you don't have to have special lights   or mats or anything like that just something to  put the seeds in that can be a tray if you want   to purchase those or it can be something as simple  as an egg carton or toilet paper rolls whatever   you have on hand little pots whatever and you can  start them outside you don't have to have some   growing light system insight to do this I've  started all of these outside with the exception   of a few that I did start in my aero Garden I'll  put the video here for seed starting kit that I   I got with AeroGarden that helps you start seeds  and they grow very very fast but the traditional   way works perfectly too so the first thing to  know about growing broccoli is that there are   different types or varieties as I'm sure you  know but the two main types of broccoli are   a heading broccoli like this guy and then  something called a sprouting broccoli this   looks a lot more like broccolini where you have  these thin heads that pop up they're more tender   I actually prefer them I think they taste great  but for space wise heading broccoli is always my   go-to these heading broccolis are going to kind of  give you more I think or at least at least that's   my experience I think some people might disagree  with that broccoli plant takes up a lot of space   it takes at least a foot maybe a foot and a half  of square footage you really want your biggest   bang for your buck and believe it or not it's  not the head that's the biggest bang for your   buck it is the side shoots that happen so once I  take this head off this plant is going to produce   all these side shoots of smaller heads that's  where you really get a lot of volume especially   if you get a variety that is known for having  lots of side shoots I found this this sprouting   broccoli doesn't isn't as prolific when it comes  to those side shoots and so you don't get as much   so not only are you not getting the big head but  you're not getting that excessive side shooting   as well also I have learned that not all heading  varieties are equal this is a cool weather crop so   it likes cold weather and I'm in Florida where  we don't get cold weather so how do I grow these   variety variety is everything when it comes  to these not only are you looking for a bolt   resistant variety you're actually looking for a  heat tolerant variety you would think that those   mean the same thing they do not because bolting  can occur from day length or daylight Sun length   and it also can occur from heat it's a slow bolt  varieties are not necessarily what you are looking   for when you are looking for broccoli or any  other plant for that matter if you think about it   we get soft neck garlic and short day onions  because our day length is quite short I think   we go from nine hours at our shortest to 12 and  a half at our longest that's quite different from   our friends up north who can go like in Alaska I  think they go from like 18 hours to seven hours   or something that's quite a bit of difference and  so it's the daylight that really is impacting when   you look at that slow bolt it's really mostly  talking about daylight although it could also   be talking about heat and that's why you need to  read those descriptions very carefully because   heat tolerance is really what you're looking for  look for those Exotics or those broccolis from I   think like Eastern Asian countries I always  look if I see Japan anywhere in Central or   South America those typically are really good  varieties for us here because especially the   the Central and South America varieties like  there is a I can't pronounce it I'll put its   name right here but that variety it's a Brazilian  variety and that one grows really well down here   that's a sprouting type so be careful but this  one right here is called Acadia and Arcadia is   a variety that heads very large and that's why  I like it but it's very hard to find another   variety you might like I'm going to try them next  year I didn't try them this year is green Magic   by the way these are both hybrids so there's also  decisio I'll put the name right here and Waltham   does some that are are okay for down here they're  more like a medium to a small size head so once   you have seeded your trays you're going to keep  them moist and keep them outside they don't really   need the the Dome cover for down here where we get  a lot of humidity but if you're a little bit more   north of here you may want to consider the Dome  if it's not warm enough during our winter months   once they've sprouted you're going to wait for  about two to four of the true leaves not the   seed leaves so the seedlings are the first two  leaves that show up don't count those wait for   the first two to come then what you're looking for  is four to six total leaves so two true leaves and   two real leaves once they've gotten to that size  then you can transplant them out into the garden   they take a while to grow and it's funny  because they seem like they're small for   a very long period of time and then all of a  sudden they get like this where they're huge   and they're bushy and the center just pops  out and it is only out for a short period of   time and I think that has to do with our heat  it's basically what it's doing is it's bolting   weirdly enough it's bolting it's going to  flower all of these if I were not to take   this head these would all turn into these little  really cute yellow flowers that the bees adore   so that is actually the flowering stage and that's  the part that we eat is the flowering stage if it   does go to flowering you start to see it popping  open into those little yellow flowers are starting   to come out still edible the actual flowers are  edible they're actually really good I I think it   just tastes like broccoli so I harvest even if I'm  a little past due doesn't matter but this guy is   actually pretty perfect for harvesting the head  is very tight the little florets or the little   Parts where the flowers are coming out they're  very tight they're not about to open yet they   probably got about maybe four to six days before  it's going to start popping open and the flowers   are going to come so we got this guy right in time  in terms of feeding I'll usually feed it something   nitrogen rich and all that I did for fertilizer in  this bed is when and I'll put the video here here   I'll put the video up here or a link to the video  also put it down in the description of when I did   fertilize this entire garden and that was at the  beginning of the Season all I did was I put blood   meal down that's the only fertilizer I have used  oh with the exception is I was testing out compost   tea I wanted to see how well that worked works  pretty good so I did some compost tea but honestly   I think they would have been fine usually they are  very nitrogen feeders that's where all the green   comes from but they they don't really require a  lot if you've got decent soil and you fertilize   at the beginning of the Season that should hold  them over through the whole season they like   about an inch of water a week so that's usually  for me that is 15 to 20 minutes two times a week   could be different in your garden it depends on  how much water holds in your soil or how much   water evaporates from your soil if you use mulch  there's a lot of things that go into how often   you need to water next up bugs so I don't get  a lot of bugs on my broccoli probably because   of the time of year we grow broccoli we grow  we start them in october-ish depends on when   you start getting cooler nights it's hard to say  I always have a difficult time with this it's hard   to say start in October start in September it's  really dependent on the weather and for me when   I start to see the evening temperatures move into  the 60s from the you know the 70s or 80s that we   have during the summer to like the 60s that we  start getting in Fall that's what tells me I can   start my broccoli and that's when I started these  guys were in October because I started them in   fall or you know start them all the way to Winter  I don't deal with that many bugs the one bug I did   deal with or sorry two bugs that I didn't deal  with with slugs and cut worms and that usually   impacts them when they're young when they're  seedlings and the best way to deal with these   that I've found is I come and pick them off at  night so I will walk my garden at night when I'm   walking my dogs with a little headlamp and I look  for them the other way that I found that seems to   work really well is I save all of our toilet paper  rolls like the ends the inside a cardboard piece   and when I put the transplant in I will put the  toilet paper roll over it and what that does is it   the cutworms will come towards that toilet paper  roll and they will stop it will basically block   them from getting in there works like a dream  works perfect I've been saving all of those up   now so whenever I put seedlings in the ground you  will probably see paper towel rolls and in fact   I have some right here and they decompose because  they're cardboard they decompose I just leave them   in the bed now we're going to harvest this big one  so as you can see here this guy is very dark green   you can almost start to see a little bit of the  yellowing and so that's the first step that you   know that your broccoli is going to start  flowering soon is the tight heads will start   to loosen or these tight little florets will start  to loosen up and they'll look fatter or more plump   and then you'll have these little yellow spots  happening so I'm just going to come down here and you can go as far down as you like really   I like eating the stems so  normally I do very far down but for this one I'm just going to take that much look at that you can actually already  see right here this tiny little side shoot that tiny little side shoot is already starting  it's already getting ready to do side shoots which   is awesome and so I'm going to clip these outer  leaves off oh look there's another side shoot that   one's rather big but this one is really gonna be  excited about creating more side shoots in it all   of these down here at this base all of these will  produce those side shoots and so very prolific   besides these side shoots that are growing these  little tiny guys and the ones that are coming off   the side of our broccoli right here you can also  eat the entire plant these leaves are great like   collard green substitutes you can eat them raw  but they're they're a little tough for me to eat   raw but I like to cook them and use them either  as spinach or like a collard green substitute   another thing that is really edible and very  very yummy is this stem right here and even   your grocery store broccoli you can eat the stem  so what I'll do is when I bring this inside I will   cut this down so it's a little more smooth and  then I'll peel the stem and cut them into coins   basically and you can kind of cook them like  you would carrots so you can saute them you   can roast them you can boil them they're  really really good so that's it that's all   you have to do to grow your own broccoli in  your garden I'm going to get inside get this   cut up and we're gonna have this for dinner  tonight thanks so much for watching [Music]

Channel: Homegrown Florida

Views: 35,507

Keywords: how to grow broccoli, how to grow broccoli from seed, how to grow broccoli at home, how to grow broccoli in containers, broccoli, growing broccoli, garden, gardening, organic gardening, harvesting broccoli, when to harvest broccoli, vegetable gardening, how to harvest broccoli, growing guide, growing broccoli in raised beds, how to grow broccoli sprouts, how-to, complete growing guide, organic broccoli, homegrown florida, how to grow broccoli in hot weather, florida gardening

Id: w1qsYmE9uz4

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023