Blossom Broccoli: Non-stop harvest

It’s exciting to discover the first thumb-sized broccoli heads in the row and watch them grow. Sometimes they’ll get to be 6 or 8 inches wide at the top. Other times the heads will be quite small when it’s time to pick them.

The center head must be cut before it blossoms, even if it’s on the small side. How do you tell when the head is ready to blossom? A head of broccoli is a cluster of flower buds. When the head is young, its individual buds are packed very tightly. Rub your thumb over them and you will feel that tightness. As long as the buds stay tight, let the head grow. But when the buds loosen up and spread out, they are about to pop up and produce little yellow flowers. Again, pass your thumb across the top of the head—if the buds are loose, you’d better harvest.

The heads may be very small when the buds loosen, but harvest anyway. Because of hot weather, lack of water, or some other stress, the plant is determined to send up flowers and try to make seed. The only way to stop this is by harvesting.

Once you cut out the center head, many smaller heads, or “side shoots,” will form on other parts of the stems. These may not be large, but often there are so many of them you can top up your harvest basket in no time. The smaller shoots also will try to send up flower stalks and blossoms. If you let a plant blossom, it will go to seed and stop producing. It’s important to keep them picked. In hot weather I go out every other day and snip all the side shoots—even little bite- sized ones—before they can flower. It’s almost a non-stop harvest!

There are many dependable early varieties of broccoli, along with purple-headed and late-season types. Green Comet Hybrid is a variety you’ll often see at nurseries in the spring. It is an early variety, but please note: it produces a large center head with few, and sometimes no, side shoots. I’d rather plant Green Comet as a fall crop because there isn’t much time for a long harvest of side shoots anyway.

Brussels Sprouts:Strip off bottom leaves for bigger harvest

I used to grow brussels sprouts exclusively for a fall harvest because the plants survive so well in very cold weather. Heck, I’ve picked brussels sprouts as late as Janaury here in Vermont. I had to dig in the snow for them, but they were good.

I don’t wait for cold weather anymore. In recent years I’ve picked tiny sprouts as early as July and continued the harvest from the same plants well into November. People ask me, “Aren’t the sprouts bitter when you pick them in the heat of the summer?” “Shouldn’t you wait until the sprouts get big and the weather gets cold?” The answer to both questions is, “No.” The secret is to start picking when the sprouts are about the size of marbles. As long as they’re growing smoothly and you pick them small, they should be tender.

The sprouts form where a leaf grows out of the thick stalk. They’ll appear on the bottom of the stalk first. That’s the oldest part of the plant.

Stripping leaves directs energy to sprouts

I have a technique that encourages these early sprouts to grow big in a hurry. As soon as I see tiny sprouts begin to form, I break off all the branches, starting from the lowest and continuing up 6 or 8 inches. The sprouts stay in place, but all the branches near them are gone.

Stripping the stalk like this stimulates the plant in two ways: it grows taller so it can add more leaves and sprouts; and it directs energy to the tiny sprouts at the bottom of the stalk. These grow in a hurry. In 5 or 7 days they are ready for picking. When I harvest them I take a minute and snap off more branches higher up on the stalk. This helps the next harvest grow. I do this through the season, forcing the plant to grow taller, to send out new branches, and to produce more sprouts.

The plants will get pretty tall if you continue to strip the branches. They’ll keep growing until winter knocks them out or until some of the sprouts send out seed stalks and blossoms.

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