By John, on December 26th, 2010 |
 (This post was originally authored on December 11 – Ed.)
I finally have to admit, reluctantly, that the 2010 growing season is finished. The weather today was mostly sunny and a balmy 48°F, just perfect for puttering around the garden. Sadly, the unseasonably cold weather had pushed my brassicas to their limits leaving them rather limp and lifeless. So I harvested as many broccoli florets and leaves of kale as I could and placed the cut stems in ice water to revive them. The broccoli on the left is de Cicco, on the right is Gypsy Hybrid, an heirloom variety. Notice the difference in both the size and tightness of the flower buds. …continue reading
By John, on December 9th, 2010 |
 Broccoli is such an amazing plant. It just keeps on growing even as the weather grows colder. I think we might have finally found the its limit though. Since Thanksgiving the nights have been solidly in the 20s and when I checked on the broccoli yesterday I realized that the top layer of soil in the raised beds was frozen. For the past few weeks the plants would wilt at night and then rally during the day but with the daytime temperature now hovering in the 30s they remain wilted. The plant pictured at left is our largest crown but each of the twenty or so plants has crowned to a lesser degree. So we will be able to harvest a full meal’s worth at some point. I am now wondering how long these plants might continue before they fully succumb to the season. Obviously this calls for another experiment.
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By John, on November 3rd, 2010 |
 I suppose we should have started our fall broccoli crop about two to three weeks earlier. This crop was direct seeded July 29th and the attached photos are from October 31st; that’s 90 days. One plant out of the twenty or so pictured here has a maturing crown, while most of the others have just started to crown. You can see that the cabbage worms have been doing their best (nee, worst) to completely consume my plants. I’m amazed that the plants survived to grow to this size. In retrospect, I should have sprayed them with BT and let the little buggers eat themselves to death (evil laugh) but I kept thinking that their activity would slow down as the weather cooled. Uhh, wrong! They became even more voracious, no doubt fueling themselves for a long hibernation and eventual metamorphosis.
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By John, on August 19th, 2010 |
 All I can say is “wow”! It’s amazing how quickly seeds germinate and grow when the soil is warm and fertile. There has been a little insect damage (grasshoppers are bad this year) but nothing compared to the horrors of this past spring. I have my fingers crossed that …continue reading
By John, on August 5th, 2010 |
 The anecdotal information about growing broccoli is all over the place. Some of my tried and true blogging buddies make it appear so easy while others swear up and down that they’ve had nothing but problems. Just like everything else in gardening, you just have to dive in and try it for yourself. We’ve planted two varieties, Gypsy Hybrid and De Cicco. There was nothing special about either of these that lead me to choose them other than the fact that they were the only …continue reading
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(This post was originally authored on December 11 – Ed.)
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