Sprouting broccoli - a homegrown taste sensation!
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By Emma Cooper
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Sprouting broccoli is not the usual sort of broccoli you’d find in the grocery store. Those big heads of tight green florets are heading broccoli, also known as calabrese. Sprouting broccoli is a much more majestic plant, taller and hardier and giving a generous harvest of small florets in early spring, when the kitchen garden struggles to put food on your table.
Sprouting broccoli is also a taste sensation – one of those seasonal delights that are a revelation when they arrive on your plate. Because sprouting broccoli is rarely found in grocery stores, and is expensive when it is, growing our own is the only way to guarantee you can eat your fill each year.
Still, growing sprouting broccoli is not for the faint of heart. It’s a big plant, talking up 2 to 3 feet of space in the vegetable garden. You sow seeds in spring in pots or a nursery bed, transplant them into their growing position in midsummer and then wait until the following spring for your harvest. Very few vegetables (perhaps asparagus) are so anticipated for so long.
Like all members of the cabbage family, sprouting broccoli likes fertile alkaline soil (with a pH of 6.8 or above) and is prone to pests and diseases – remember not to grow these plants in the same area of the garden each year. The nice thing about sprouting broccoli is that it crops early in the year, before the cabbage butterflies are on the wing, and so stands a good chance of being completely caterpillar free.
The most usual varieties of sprouting broccoli produce purple florets – although the color changes to green when they’re cooked. You can get early varieties and late varieties, cropping about a month apart, to extend the growing season. You can also get white sprouting broccoli, popular with gourmets for its superior flavor.
The plants are very hardy, surviving the worst that the winter can through at them, although they may need some support to prevent wind rock. Although you should water plants in dry weather, don’t be too kind to them – too much lush leafy growth will reduce their hardiness.
Cut the florets before they flower, and the plant will grow more for you until it’s exhausted or you want to clear the space for summer crops. The stems and the young leaves are also edible, so you end up with stems around 6 inches long that are great simply steamed or boiled, or you can dress them up for a special meal.
Unfortunately, sprouting broccoli does not make a good container plant. However, if you look a little further afield – to broccoli raab (also known as rapini) or kailaan (Chinese broccoli) – you can find smaller plants, fast-growing and ideal for containers, with edible flower shoots that are the next best thing.
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Author Bio Box: Emma Cooper
Emma Cooper has a weekly gardening podcast, The Alternative Kitchen Garden, all about growing your own food in an environmentally friendly way. Check out her website for her gardening blog and more articles.
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