Brassicas
Broccoli
The family's easiest; fall heads tighten as nights cool.
- Indoors
- 6 to 8 wk (early to mid Jul)
- Outside
- Transplant Sep 1-20
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Daily while roots take; a dry check young means buttons
- Harvest
- Nov to Dec, main head then side shoots
Care
- Water
- Daily for about two weeks at the September set-out while roots take, then taper as the mid-September rains return. Keep it even after: a young plant checked dry even once buttons instead of forming a full crown, and winter beds want only dry-spell soaks.
- Sow
- In cells in early to mid July, 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, keep the stronger. Transplant a foot to eighteen inches apart into the bed September 1 to 20; the county plants the fall brassicas mid-September, and the 20th is the last call.
- Start inside
- No heat mat in a Texas July: warm soil sprouts them in days. Grow the bench in full sun with shade after 3 p.m., kept moist, the fall guide's recipe for home-raised transplants, and set out the largest plants you have.
- Feed
- Compost at transplant, then a side-dress once the fall growth run starts, nitrogen modest so the stems do not run hollow. The county's July-August no-feeding stretch ends before these plants ever reach the bed; feed through the cool run, never the heat.
- Ready
- Take the central head while its beads stay tight and green, ahead of any yellowing; the plant then throws side shoots for weeks in the short days. Heads sizing through October and November come off sweeter than any June head could.
- Trouble
- Buttoning, a tiny head on a small plant: the September heat checked it, so set out on time and water daily until roots take. Cabbageworms matching the stems: net at transplant, Bt when frass shows, and a saltwater soak clears the head.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 3–5 gal bag.
- Water
- Every day or two through the fall run, twice a day if a hot September stretches; water until it runs from the drainage holes.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag. The Texas container guide puts broccoli at just 2 gallons, and the larger bag buffers a hot September afternoon besides.
Broccoli is the easiest cole crop on the state's own sheet, and fall is when it gets easiest: July bench, September bed, tight heads as the nights cool.
Growing
The state cole crop sheet gives the reason spring fails here: delayed spring planting exposes the plants to too-hot weather before they mature. So broccoli runs fall-only. Sow cells in early to mid July, transplant September 1 to 20, and the heads size up through October and November as the nights cool, which is when broccoli is easiest to grow well. Water daily for the first two weeks in the ground and evenly after, then cut the main head while the beads are tight and leave the plant for weeks of side shoots. The research verdict carries winter harvests for the fall planting, and the unfrozen ground keeps the shoot trickle honest into the short days.
Varieties
The cole sheet's Texas list: Arcadia, Bonanza, Green Comet, Green Magic, Packman, Premium Crop and Southern Comet, with broccoli named the easiest and most rewarding of the family. Nothing on the list is billed heat tolerant, and none needs to be on a schedule that keeps the plant out of the heat entirely.
Pests
The white cabbage butterflies find it first, and their green worms match the stems exactly, usually announcing themselves at dinner. Netting at transplant prevents the whole problem; Bt handles an outbreak, and a saltwater soak before cooking evicts anyone who made it into the head.
In the kitchen
Main heads roast dark at high heat. The side-shoot trickle arrives conveniently stir-fry sized, and blanched florets freeze well enough to be worth the pot; the November heads land alongside the last of the salsa crop, which is a good plate.