Sunday 6 June 2010

broccoletti harvest and brassica planting

The broccoletti is ready to harvest!  The main head has formed and the buds are swelling.  A few are actually looking whitish which means if I'd left it another day or two it probably would be in bloom.
http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden10/broccolettihead1.JPG
I wasn't sure what to expect because I knew it wasn't going to be the same as the store-bought broccolini.  Sure enough, rather than a long thin stalk with a hint of a head it's more a fat stalk with a small head and some side-shoots.  I'm leaving the base of the plant in place to see if it puts out any more side shoots over the next few weeks.
http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden10/broccolettihead2.JPG
Tonight I'll cut it up, including some of the smaller leaves, and try it lightly poached in an Asian-flavoured broth with some store-bought greens.  I hope it's tasty!

The kale is powering along nicely too.  I've had a few leaves so far but haven't yet made a nice big pot of winter minestrone - so yummy!
http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden10/kalejune.JPG
In the meantime I also pulled out one of the pots of gai lan that had gone to seed, and re-planted some more.  Hopefully this batch will grow more slowly and not go to seed so quickly, oh and not be eaten by caterpillars and drilled by leaf miners too.  I also planted a red arrow broccoli in the pot that the designer twig used to be in, I hope it's not too late in the season!

My snow peas and broad beans are slowly growing away but they're certainly not in a hurry.  I think they'd both like more sunlight than they get in my yard in winter.  The sun's just too low and the buildings around it too high.  Oh well that's what you get from a little urban yard!

5 comments:

Funkbunny said...

Wow, your Kale is doing so much better than mine (and I think I gave you the seeds!!)

Well done. What's your secret?

Alexa said...

Hmmm not really any secret. Good fertile soil, keep the water up, and earlier in the year fend off the butterflies. I planted it way back in early March, when did yours go in?

Oh and unfortunately I seriously overcooked my broccoletti, after all that. :(

Unknown said...

Hi there
i see you have broccolleti.
I have started growing some but it keeps going to flower. did you have this happen?
should i keep cutting back the flower shoots until the plant is more mature? or leave them and let it keep going to seed until it is bigger?
thanks
emily

Alexa said...

Hi Emily. Broccoletti never forms proper heads, once you get a few green buds you're meant to eat it. I wasn't very impressed to be honest, it's not the same variety they sell in the supermarkets (which is a first-generation hybrid). I think I'll stick with normal broccoli from now on; when you harvest the main head of broc you can then harvest the small side-heads afterward.

Unknown said...

thanks! i have been rather unimpressed too as i was expecting something of a slightly smaller version of the supermarket broccolini.