Growing Broccoli from Sowing to Harvest 🥦

Broccoli: Cartoon trees full of GOODNESS! What's not to like?!
Broccoli is a powerhouse of antioxidants, vitamins and fibre. It comes in all sorts of shapes and colours and each variety can be sown and harvested at different times, meaning you will have a something tasty to pick all year round...if you know how!
Ben shares his top tips for a bumper broccoli harvest in this week's episode. Give it a big green thumbs up!

If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
and many more...

[katec]

When you said 'a quick shout out' I thought you were going to name a sponsor. Instead you praised a self seeded broccoli plant and admired it's health, beauty and tenacity. Love that.

[paul-oram]

Nowness. That really resonates with me. That is the therapeutic value of gardening, being in the moment. Learning to be patient. Yes you do get a sense of authenticity when separating seedlings.

[dianeladico]

For those in the US, green broccoli is sometimes easier as a fall crop. The pest pressure is much less, there's less chance of bolting in our hot summers, it sweetens with a frost and it's good to fill in the gaps when the warm weather veg are done or on their way out. Most garden centers don't carry seedlings later in the year so you'd need to plan to grow your own from seed.

[ellatv]

Your garden is thriving and it is a joy to see

[Jade-sfsh]

I'm actually trying to grow broccoli for the first time this year! I planted my seeds 2 weeks ago so this video is just what I needed! Thank you!

[rebeccawilliams]

Purple sprouting broccoli is my favourite. Xx

[Munchkinzi]

Hi Ben,
I sowed my brassicas 2 years ago and they're all still giving me plenty to harvest... This happened as my broccoli seedlings were super Leggy! This meant their first head was tiny!! But the secondary crop you mentioned want just secondary, but all year. They basically all became 'sprouting' broccoli.
Seeing as I find I don't use masses of brassicas in my food (little and often), getting big heads of broccoli, cabbage and waiting for those tight sprouts to form on my brussels wasn't the best way....so we incorporated the 'cut and come again' method to our brassica as well as our salads!!!
Brussel leaves are amazing and their yellow flowers attract the bees and also make delicious eating too; nice and sweet!
I must admit, all the brassica family's flowers are delicious and edible, so don't worry if you miss harvesting that big calebrese head before it bolts, as the pollinators love them and so do we! Still edible and still as nutritious and beautiful too.
My kids will go out purposefully looking for the sprout flowers to snack on raw as they're so sweet!
Cabbages too, if you miss harvesting that head, don't worry as it'll open up and send a 'broccoli' style flower shoot up and again....edible, beautiful and delicious and so are the leaves from that head as you can still harvest them!
I wish I could share the photos with you, they're fascinating; I have 4 types of cabbages growing in 20cm pots (they're 1m tall and thriving!), Brussels in my flower beds and both calabrese and Purple sprouting in planters and amongst my rhubarb. They all give a wonderful display and flower in different ways... I love them, can you tell...?
Kale too....eat the flowers and tender stems too...yummy winter/spring delicacy!

Ok, enough brassica beaming....bye for now,
Sammi! 🥦🥬🌻🐝

[gardeningwithprincess]

I so agree with you. Ppl think I'm weird when I say separating seedlings is therapeutic lol. I enjoy the entire process of seed starting, potting up, transplanting, etc.

[laurafrey]

Best broccoli growing video out there! Thanks!

[andreaharper]

Ben! Your garden planner is amazing and worth every penny…I just started using it in January for this springs garden in houston, tx. I did a big expansion of my garden, and your software was invaluable for EASY calculations for materials, number of seeds to start, and amount of dirt to order. It also makes my planning even more fun thank you so much for offering this program to all of us, I hope you earn tons of money from it. Im so glad I found you on YouTube, thanks for teaching me

[steve]

I too enjoy potting up seedlings, gives me a sense of enormous wellbeing....as the song goes. Great video again.👍👍👍🥦🥦🥦

[lindabuss]

Here in NOT so sunny Spain, my broccoli plants are in my greenhouse screaming to be set free! It's been the wettest March since 1927. And now we are in a polar blast of weather. I've normally planted them by now along with my tomatoes which are also still in my greenhouse. Keep up the good work Ben.

[stephenperry]

The leaves are also highly nutritious. Delicious steamed.

[preciousmetalhead]

I love when I get a new Growveg notification 🤘🏻🌱🤘🏻

[sandram]

Staking broccoli plants was something I learned late in the game as it helps them from falling over. I’ve also heard they grow better when staked as they don’t like being moved about by the wind.

[PrincessFidelma]

This is going to be the first year I attempt growing it.

I love broccoli cut up small, raw in salads. I grate the stalk and use it in coleslaw
😋

[xSunshinex]

Broccoli is one of my favourites and this year I will grow twice as many plants as last year🌻 The new bed was prepared before winter.
Need more of the broccoli to freeze for the winter months. The time of year when a cheese and broccoli soup is extra nourishing for both the body and the soul 😊
Thanks for all the growing tips! 💚

[carollloydjones]

I grew my broccoli in the greenhouse over winter. It grew lovely and healthy and I have been picking it for a few weeks now

[kevinstonebanks]

Thanks again for the tips, for us beginners, I found a old packet of broccoli seeds dated 2014 sowed them last week and I have plenty of healthy plants,
Thanks again for the great video

[helenamcginty]

So pleased to see you mention sprouting broccoli. We grew the purple one annually in N W England. I actually diike the green one so much I have stopped buying it. Lovely sweet cabbage is much more to my taste.