Growing Broccoli in Home Economy Vegetable Gardens

This basic information on how to grow broccoli will set you up for a successful economy vegetable garden. Use fresh broccoli in stir fry meals, with vegetable dips, or as an extra vegetable on fresh salads. You can also freeze the cut broccoli florets for economical, fresh vegetables throughout the year. Broccoli is one of the miracle foods touted by Oprah and Dr. Oz for weight loss, cancer prevention and general quality of life.

Broccoli is considered a winter vegetable and does not tolerate warm temperatures well. Broccoli does best in climates with temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the growing season. Based on your local temperatures, plant broccoli seeds in early summer. Transplant the seedlings in late summer or autumn. It will take growing broccoli plants about two months to produce.

Harvest the center broccoli head first before it begins to spread apart. It is important to harvest the broccoli florets before the broccoli blooms, which are tiny golden flowers. Use a sharp knife or garden scissors to slice the broccoli from the thick stems at a sharp angle. Otherwise, water will gather in the center of the wide parts of the stems and cause broccoli rot.

Most economy gardens are based on the idea that growing vegetables will provide fresh produce and save money. If you are growing broccoli for an economy garden, space the plantings a few weeks apart. Otherwise, the broccoli will mature at the same time, giving you too much one week and none the next. Growing broccoli in large batches may cause you to waste fresh produce if too much of it matures at once.

If you are purchasing seedlings instead of sowing your own, look for local greenhouses known for growing vegetables and broccoli. Locally raised strains are often more suited to the climate than commercially purchased seedlings which have been flown in from other areas.

Prepare a well-drained vegetable garden bed for growing broccoli successfully. Use hearty soil from local greenhouses with strong compost materials. Form rows of slightly raised ridges and plant the broccoli vegetable seeds along this ridge. As the seedlings emerge, pull out the sickly, damaged or weak plants. Leave strong broccoli seedlings about a foot and a half apart.

If you need to know how to grow broccoli organically without suffering from bugs, use all natural cayenne pepper. Shake this pepper over the leaves and stems to keep insects away.

Use organic fertilizer with nitrogen when growing broccoli every few weeks for a faster growing and producing crop.