For more than a month, the most visibly growing vegetables in my backyard garden were the broccoli plants. They grew and grew. Almost too big. They are now casting a shadow over my red leaf lettuce. However, as big as they got, I never saw anything that actually looked like the broccoli that I was used to seeing on my dinner plate.
Grow Your Own Broccoli — It’s Really Broccoli
Then, last week, we got a lot of rain; eight inches in two or three days. Imagine my surprise and thrill when I saw what I could clearly identify as broccoli!
Go ahead. Click the picture. Check out the size of my broccoli. It’s not huge yet but at least it looks like actual broccoli.
I wonder how much broccoli I’ll actually get from the garden and how much the plant will produce? Any ideas? Let me know how many people I need to invite to my all-broccoli dinner party.
Broccoli, waste of good dirt. Next year, plant asparagus. You might see if you can get a government subsidy to grow shade leaf tobacco.
An ALL broccoli dinner? Who are you and what have you done with my nephew?
Broccoli is so fun to grow- the little heads pop up and it’s like Christmas! That is, if you’re a complete nerd like I am…
Be careful- these guys love to run to seed and I’ve seen it happen in Carl’s parent’s raised beds. Since the roots only have so far to go, the broccoli matures with smaller heads. If you start to see the little flower buds in the heads turn a little brown, go ahead and harvest them. I couldn’t believe how much better home grown broccoli tastes than store bought- even the color is better!
But if you’re curious (or again, nerdy) and leave a head to watch, broccoli develops really cool little yellow flowers (at least mine did) and sort of sparks out all over the place like a tiny bouquet. Check out this picture I found: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17548490@N00/245611984
Hi there, I am growing my first broccoli too – over in the North East of England. Today we had the same ‘they’ve been growing forever and finally look liek broccoli’…
Yippeee!!!!! P.S. Asparagus are a waste of good soil…..
Kerami, we have been getting a lot of rain here in South Florida. Half my broccoli are in a low spot and look exactly as they were a couple months ago. The other half, on a higher spot, are doing fabulous and are actually starting to look like broccoli.
My tomatoes are also doing really well. I have to be sure and check them daily otherwise the grow too fast and split before I have a chance to eat them.
My carrots are very unsatisfying. I can’t see them growing, what with them being underground and all. Never again will I grow a sub-surface vegetable. What is the fun in that?
Cheers,
Matt