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Hi

As I am in my first year of growing any veg I have yet another question!

I have a few broccoli plants which all seem to be doing quite well. Broccoli has started to appear on the plants, do I need to do anything with this or just leave the plants to develop?

Thanks in advance

Let them grow as big as you can as seen here;



If you see signs of the head breaking up into florets get them picked as the is the first sign that they are ready to go over the top (to seed)

After picking the head keep the plants growing in the normal manner and they will produce secondary florets at each leaf axil.

Oh to get broccoli like that TeeGee

I've just got heads on a few of my plants, but looking at them today, the tops are starting to look a bit loose and like they might flower... shall I chop them off?

Wow TeeGee what it would be like to get broccoli like that!!

Thanks for the advice, very useful. It is amazing how excited you can get by the site of a small broccoli head!! It is great for the children, they love watching everything grow, lets hope they develop into something worth putting on the plate!  :)

Any advice for my question above please?

I'd eat them, oliveoyl, you should get some side shoots  :)

QuoteI've just got heads on a few of my plants, but looking at them today, the tops are starting to look a bit loose and like they might flower... shall I chop them off?

Any chance of a picture?

It is difficult to give you a defintive answer because different varieties grow in a different manner.

Note;

The dimples on a Broccoli/Calabrese are all flower buds and are usually dark green. If on looking closer you should see thin streaks of yellow this means the calyxes are breaking and you should get them eaten or frozen asap i.e. they are ready to flower!

No pics I'm afraid, but sounds like they are going to flower from what you said... definitely yellow bits visible... the buds were tight together but are starting to get bigger and look like they're going to go over.  The heads aren't very big and I only planted them 6/7 weeks ago... oh well.

Thanks  :)

P. S. They're Calabrese type, not a sprouting variety.