Broccoli, broccoli and more broccoli

Broccoli, broccoli and more broccoli

Only just under two months until winter is officially here. Which means if you haven’t got your winter vegetables in the ground yet, you need to get moving. Plant them while the soil is still warm and they’ll get the kick start they need. Plant them when the soil is already cool and you might be eating them in spring!

Now you need to choose what to grow. I’m a big fan of broccoli during winter, and not just the regular variety. I like to plant your run-of-the-mill romanesco broccoli but also broccoflower and Italian broccoli.

Broccoflower is a hybrid between cauliflower and broccoli and has a milder and slightly sweeter taste than cauliflower. It has small cauli-shaped heads and is lime green. Italian precoce broccoli forms highly decorative light green clusters of heads that resemble sea coral. The unusual tip of each spear is conical rather than round but the taste is true broccoli at its very best!

You can get all three varieties in one of our mixed veg bundles. The mixed veg bundles are great if you’re feeding a small household or like to stagger your planting. Each bundle has a couple of each variety of plant, rather than lots of the same variety. You can order your mixed veg bundles from our online shop at www.awapuni.co.nz. Or pick up some Awapuni seedlings when you’re next at your local supermarket, The Warehouse or Bunnings.

Once you’ve got your seedlings you need to find somewhere to plant them. Because broccoli is from the brassica species, it’s important you grow them somewhere you haven’t planted any other brassicas (like cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts etc) recently. This will prevent your plants getting club root – a disease which stops the heads on your brassicas developing fully.

Next I recommend adding some lime to the soil prior to planting. This will also help prevent club root.

Then plant each seedling around 35cm apart. This will ensure the seedlings have room to expand and grow.

Because broccoli can take a long time to mature, during the earlier weeks you can plant other quick growing seedlings, like spinach and silverbeet, in the spaces between each seedling. This is a great way of maximising the use of space in your garden. Your fast growing seedlings should be ready in about six weeks – depending on the weather where you are. And your various varieties of broccoli in around eight to 10 weeks.

Once they’re ready, harvest your heads before the plant flowers as, once it does, it will die. Simply use a knife to diagonally cut off the heads you have selected. This will encourage new heads to grow and will also ensure a long cropping season. If you harvest too much just chuck the excess in the freezer. They will keep for two to three months.

Lastly, after growing brassicas it’s a good idea to inject some nutrients (particularly nitrogen) back into the soil. Try growing a cover crop like blue lupin. Lupin is a good choice of cover crop as it’s not a member of the brassica family (like mustard). When the cover crop has matured, dig it into the soil.

This will get the soil all ready for next season’s planting.

Henri Ham
Awapuni Nurseries
www.awapuni.co.nz

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