Broccoli: Gone to seed

The broccoli has been prolific in the amount of stalks it produced, but unfortunately the taste has been mediocre at best. Also, the timing required to harvest the stalks is incredibly precise; a day early and it is too "green" tasting and a day late means the florets bloom. I'm calling this little experiment complete and have let the plant go to seed.

Since I've stopped cutting the stalks, new florets have not grown very much. Most of the plant's energy seems to have become focused on putting out flowers. You can see what it looks like now in this photo taken this morning.


Broccoli is a member of the same family as cabbage. There is an apartment around the corner from me that has ornamental cabbages growing in the lobby. You can see the similarity between the flowers of the broccoli above and the cabbage below.


I'll bring the broccoli indoors soon and put some seed-catching paper around it to prepare for next year. I think I need better soil and probably better weather than we've had this year. This winter has been holding on too long.

Broccoli: Harvest time

Today is harvest day for the broccoli! The floret was nice and big, and I think leaving it on the plant any longer would have led to it flowering and ending the fruiting season completely. There were also small florets forming near the bottom of the stem, so cutting this one may send some nutrients their way.

Here's the harvest!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I'm not going to be feeding anyone on this meager amount.

Broccoli: Floret looking delicious

About 10 days ago, I noticed there was a small floret growing in the center of the broccoli plant. In just this short time, it has grown and looks like it is almost ready to harvest.

The floret is now peeking out over the rest of the leaves and is clearly visible. The stem is almost 8cm long, and the floret is about 3cm across.

The base of the plant is still worryingly thin, as you can see in the picture on the right.

Also, there is only one floret growing. I expected a few growing simultaneously like branches. Will harvesting this one encourage the growth of new florets, or will it mean the end of my broccoli? I'll find out soon, I think.

Broccoli: A floret becomes visible

It's been a little less than a month since I put the broccoli into its pot, but today I found a little floret forming in the middle of the plant.

Broccoli is new to me (as is most gardening, to be honest), so I went back and did some reading about the plant species and this particular cultivar. I made a mistake in originally calling this particular variety "gai lan". Gai Lan is similar to kale with smaller, edible leaves. The particular cultivar I am growing is probably (though I'm still not 100% confident) called "sprouting broccoli".

Interestingly, most of the sources I've read point to broccoli being a cool weather plant. Cool autumn and spring weather in the low teens (°C) are perfect for it. The informational label says the plants will be edible within 3 months, so hopefully spring sticks around for a while. The weather has been relatively cool lately with lots of rain. There have been a couple days of sun, but the temperatures haven't gone above 20°C in Tokyo yet. I had always assumed it was a summer plant.

I moved the pot off the veranda floor onto the A/C unit outside. We don't use the A/C, so it's more of a shelf than anything else at the moment. Raising it up higher also exposes the broccoli to more sunlight which I hope helps it grow.

The stem is still very thin. In the past two weeks we've had some very strong winds which have resulted in the broccoli stem bending at the base. Most broccoli that I've seen have at least an inch thick stem, I'm left wondering if the stem will increase significantly in girth in the next month.

In this picture, you can see the floret hiding in the middle of the stalk.


You can also make out some green strawberries in the planter behind the broccoli. The one in particular I took a picture of last week is now twice the size!

Broccoli: Strong winds snap leaves in half

The other day I mentioned we had some strong winds that blew the plants all over. The vegetable that took the brunt of the wind was the broccoli. One of the larger leaves snapped right in half.

Luckily, most of the plant is still in good shape.

Maybe it's just me, but the plant looks bigger and bushier than last week.

Harvest is still a couple months away for this plant. Last weekend in Kamakura I saw an ornamental broccoli growing outside someone's house. It is actually a pretty nice looking plant, and much taller than I had expected. I wonder if this pot will be large enough...

Broccoli: Just 100 yen!

Supermarkets are overflowing with broccoli at the moment, but the actual "natural" growing season for broccoli is during the summer months. The heads of broccoli sold now are either from storage or grown in hothouses. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but sometimes the taste of the vegetable isn't the best.

It's interesting that broccoli is hitting the stores now because now is actually the sprouting season for it. This past weekend I visited the home center to pick up some pots for my tomato seeds and found broccoli seedlings for 100 yen apiece.

I'm learning as I go with broccoli, but there seem to be two main types sold in Japan. The first is the large head broccoli which is the most typical type found in stores. The other is called stick broccoli which instead of accumulating into one large head spreads out into individual stems. In the U.S. I've seen this sold as Chinese broccoli or Gai Lan.

Stick broccoli can be harvested continually as the stems reach the right size. This makes it all the more cost effective. Interested, I picked up one seedling and transferred it to a larger pot.

According to the instructions on the back of the label, moderate watering and lots of sunlight are all that is needed. Hopefully by June I'll have some delicious broccoli!