Allotments 4 All

any tips on growing it? :)

the bloke on the plot next to me is growing it...last year he was given some seedlings that were surplus to his friends requirements so, never having grown broccoli before he just planted it...now this is a guy who doesn't believe in adding anything to his soil...he is a vicar andbelieves God will provide, and anyway he is poor.....he just left the little plants and now we are all eating purple broccoli because there is more than his family can eat....so plant little seedlings that have been sown in the greenhouse and forget them for 6 months, then enjoy eating it.

I love that philosophy, sometimes I think we coddle plants just for the sake of it. However, we have a large pigeon population around our allotments, and they can make a locust plague look like a couple of ants on a picnic table. I have seen broccoli and other greens reduced to just woody stems in a matter of a couple of days. They even stripped off my overwintering mooli! So be prepared to erect durable netting.

I prefer the white - but both are very prolific.

Sow now & in May. Modules work well. They grow to 40"+ so, unless they are very well grown, or you are lucky, it is sensible to stake them. Ours were all blown over in the gales.

I've been trying to include a photo for 15 min but 'upload folder is full'!!

...& make sure their final planting positions are a good 2 foot apart - everyone on our plots planted them too close together last year - including me!

Follow the advice (especially about the white sprouting!) --- and GO FOR IT!  Well worth it :)

They aren't particularly fussy - pretty easy going compared to caulis.

All best - Gavin

What happens if they're planted too close together? I've got a load of little plants and I can't bare to throw the unwanted ones away, is there any harm in planting them closer than 2ft apart?

Plant them closer and they will fight for light and space, resulting a poor crop. If you are stuck for space, plant them in rows, staggered to optimise the space.

I grew just one psb in my herbaceous border.  It thrived and produced loads of tender brocs.  No feed and no pesticide.  May just have been luck that it produced so well.  I let it go to seed and flower - beautiful  ;D

How many plants would you need to cater for the requirements of two veggieholics?

So often we all (and I include myself) talk about planting, what appears to be, large quanitites of seed and I can envisage veggie mountains in various parts of the Country.

One topic recently talked about tomato plants and my brain could see allotments full of tomato ..I then realised that they meant one or two plants of each...I think ???

Derek

Here we go again - it won't accept a photo. ........................DAN??

Spacing? Ours are 36" across, & over 40" tall, so ideal spacing should be 36"? You've got to get in between to pick &, although staggering is a good ploy, it makes access difficult & very wetting!! We use 30".
Cannot see how books can suggest 18".

Numbers? We have 15 early whites, 15 later, & 15 cut & come again caulis. We are having to eat broc at every meal!! But both it & the cca will freeze OK. Luckily my Wife prefers it to meat.

Oh, & plant DEEP!

unfortunatley 3 of my 8 plants are covered in aphids/greenfly? whichever like broccoli and spreading rapidly. Any hints how to stop same happening with next years crop, please.

Guess it saves on the meat bill! :D

My psb got quite large so I wouldn't try and squash them up.  If you don't want to waste the thinnings try and get them out carefully and replant them about 3' apart


As for aphids Ani   make sure you have plenty of flowers which atttract hoverflies etc which will eat the aphids for you.  I made a garlic and water spray last year for the roses etc but it's safe to use on anything.  I have a hand sprayer and I crush a garlic clove and top up with water.  You can use washing up liquid in water as well and spray with that.  Even a jet of water from the hose pipe will wash them off.  If there are a lot of them I do wash them off by hand with washing up liquid water.  Or if you're not organic you can zap them with insecticide but it's better to prevent a build up then you don't have to resort to emergency measures.  Easier said than done eh  ;D

THANKS, DAN!

This is the jungle you get.

The plot next to me has some very nice huge late purple sprouting broc! I sowed some, and someone erm, removed the labels from my brassica collection, so when I thought I planted the broc out, it was actually a cauliflower (pic of which is a march competition entry). I gave the excess brassica seedlings to someone who just got a new plot - those were the purple broc which are only teeny weeny with small sprouting bits.

Thanks for tips Wardy i shall put them into practice tomorrow. I think if I tried spraying them now i would create snow! It's freeing here.