Broccoli Ideas, Tips & Guides

When and How to Harvest Broccoli

Wondering what to harvest in April? There’s a fair few things to gather this month, from fresh veggies to forced fruits. Here are just a couple of examples to harvest now or very soon!

The Southern Californian region has zones 5a to 11a and experiences a Mediterranean climate with warm and sunny summers along with winters full of rainfall. It’s a bit on the hotter side, which means it’s great for growing many different kinds of veggies!

Growing broccoli in your home garden is a wonderful way to enjoy this fresh, cool-weather vegetable.

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This is another variety, italica, of Brassica oleracea. Both purple and white sprouting produce a profusion of young shoots invaluable for prolonging the supplies of winter greens. Purple sprouting is the most hardy and will safely overwinter in most open situations.

The cabbage family includes the following vegetables that grow best in cool weather: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, collards, and a delicious, yet little-known vegetable, called kohlrabi. Most of these vegetables are sold as transplants in the spring and again in late summer for planting in the fall garden. They are not difficult to grow if you give them plenty of space, ample moisture, and keep them well fed at all times.

From the deep blossoms of eggplants to the surprising hue in the artichoke flowers, these vegetables with purple flowers are a must-have for a contrasting garden!

Alexander Spatari / Getty Images

Shopping for healthy foods on a budget around the holidays can seem like an impossible task. With these tips and tricks, you can cut down on your monthly grocery bill, simplify your shopping trips, and stock up on a variety of healthy, recipe-ready foods.

Humans have been breeding and selecting plants for millennia. And this ongoing endeavour has produced some truly extraordinary outcomes. One of the most dramatic being the progeny of Brassica oleracea. This single weedy looking coastal plant from the Mediterranean (it looks like oil seed rape) has been bred and developed so extensively that it has spawned numerous offspring including broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, romanesco and kale.

With the holiday season rapidly approaching, it is time to consider how we can manage our health during a time of year filled with special food traditions. From Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing to Christmas candy to New Year lunches filled with hoppin’ john and greens, it is important that we look for meaningful ways to enjoy our seasonal favorites while also maintaining our commitment to health. In this blog, we will provide you with some tips and tricks for you when you attend your family’s holiday gatherings. We hope these suggestions help make this holiday season your healthiest one yet!

Crispy lettuce greens are a must-have in salads, you can even grow them in pots easily. Lettuce leaves are healthy for human as they’re 90 percent water, low in calories and rich in fiber. But the more relevant question is whether you can include this leafy green in your dog’s diet?Is lettuce safe for dogs? Can dogs eat lettuce?

This article offers easy steps for the successful planting, nurturing, and harvesting of Choy Sum (Yu Choy) – a nutritious and tasty Asian vegetable!

Another Trader Joe's recall, this time for Texas Tamale Company's Gourmet Black Bean Tamales (in nine states), has customers wondering what's going on with their much-loved grocery store. This is the sixth recall by the company, which has 564 markets nationwide. 

No, cauliflower is not man-made. It’s a product of selective breeding from its wild ancestor, wild cabbage. Over many centuries, farmers chose specific plants with desirable traits to cultivate, leading to various types of Brassica oleracea, including cauliflower.

When we first moved into this house we had the sofa by the patio doors. At some point during the intervening two years we moved it to the other end of the living room, facing away from the garden, so that Ryan could have a corner for his ‘office’. It means we miss on on seeing a lot of the antics of the wild birds we entice into the garden with the feeders, which is a shame. In an ideal world we’d have a conservatory, but unfortunately it would take up too much of the garden. We’re pondering whether to move things around again, but in the meantime we need to make more of an effort to look out the window!

At this time of year, many outdoor growers are winding down their plots. It’s time to clear away tender plants before the first frost, gather in the last of the harvest and make sure the hardy brassicas that can survive the winter weather are protected against marauding pigeons.

Sprouting broccoli is not the usual sort of broccoli you’d find in the supermarket. Those big heads of tight green florets are heading broccoli, also known as calabrese. Sprouting broccoli is a much more majestic plant, taller and hardier and giving a generous harvest of small florets in early spring, when the kitchen garden struggles to put food on your table.

In previous years, my garden plan has revolved around what I want to grow. There are a lot of unusual plants that grow, or might grow, in our climate, and I enjoy trying them out. With my experimental impulses mainly focused on the Hydroponicum, I have been thinking about what we would like to eat from the garden.

In a typical year, I do my garden planning before Christmas. But last year wasn’t normal, and normality (whatever that means) has yet to return. I thought I’d thought about it, but it turns out – not so much.

It’s not that long since it was spring, and cold, and my young plants needed hardening off, but it has been long enough that both of my raised bed covers had been put away for the year. Their plastic covers are great for keeping out the weather, but once it’s warm they can become overheated death traps. I’m still using my Elho grow table, which has proved very useful. Like a propagator on legs, it has been looking after plants outside for weeks. Currently it’s home to my purple sprouting broccoli seedlings, doing a great job of keeping them safe from marauding cabbage white butterflies. It’s in a shadier spot, so it hasn’t overheated, and yet the plants in it get far more light than they did inside, so they’re happy.

The garden and I have become strangers this year. It wasn’t supposed to play out like this. In the original plan, I was going to work hard during the spring and have the summer to play in the garden. But feast or famine is the freelancer’s curse, and I found myself constantly in demand.

We’re not the biggest fans of cabbage and kale, and we don’t have a large garden, so I don’t generally bother with winter brassicas. They’re large plants, and they take up space for a long time. I do make an exception for purple sprouting broccoli, which is basically Food of the Gods. It’s one of my favourite things, and I would be disappointed if we didn’t have it. In fact, I try and squeeze in too many plants, and then worry that there won’t be enough.

Trader Joe’s has announced a recall of its Trader Joe’s Multigrain Crackers with Sunflower and Flax Seeds (SKU# 76156). The grocery store, with 564 stores across the United States, was advised by its supplier that the product, with best if used by dates 03/01/24 — 03/05/24, may contain metal, according to communication from the company.

After salad crop failures in Spain and shortages of courgettes, broccoli and other ‘long distance’ vegetables gardeners could to worse than focus on traditional and non-traditional root crops.

Purple sprouting broccoli is coming along nicely. It has been occupying the ground for quite some time and has a lax habit needing more space. The old sprout stalks are ready to be dug out (they are too firmly in the ground just to pull out). They take less space and produce more food per square yard than broccoli which is consistently good at our greengrocer. A tip for this years growing plans – more sprouts firmly planted and well staked.

As the year passes, and as each new season settles upon us, we are blessed with abundant and various seasonal crops and produce. While in most mainstream grocery stores, we can now find our favorite foods all year round; however, many prefer to eat what is being grown specifically in that season. Here in South Carolina, entities such as Certified SC Grown is just one example of an organization that is working to bridge the gap between field and plate, making finding local, seasonal fruits and vegetables more attainable.

In this article, we’ll cover the various Broccoli Plant Growing Stages and provide you with valuable insights and pictures to help you along the way.

From trying cottage cheese ice cream to adding protein powder and bananas to morning coffee, the internet is ablaze with protein hacks lately—but Trader Joe’s just announced a bit of extra protein in its Unexpected Broccoli Cheddar Soup that you may not want to try.

Everyone loves falafel—it’s a year-round staple, and the frozen options at Trader Joe’s make it incredibly easy to prepare. But today, you should probably rid your freezer shelves of any Trader Joe’s falafel: In the company’s third food recall this week, on July 28 Trader Joe’s recalled its fan-favorite Fully Cooked Falafel after being informed by the supplier that rocks were found in the food.

Why blanch vegetables before freezing? Blanching vegetables before freezing is critical to quality, but not safety. Blanching is scalding vegetables in boiling water or steam for a short time. It is typically followed by quick, thorough cooling in very cold or ice water. Blanching stops enzyme actions which otherwise cause a loss of flavor, color, and texture. In addition, blanching removes some surface dirt and microorganisms, brightens color, and helps slow vitamin losses. It also wilts greens, softens some vegetables, such as broccoli and asparagus, and makes them easier to pack. It is critical to use the correct blanching time for the size and type of vegetable (see table below). Under-blanching stimulates enzyme activity and is worse than not blanching. Over-blanching leads to partial cooking and causes loss of flavor, color, vitamins, and minerals.

Monitor cool-season crops for pests, such as aphids and various caterpillar species (cabbage loopers, cross-striped cabbageworm, and diamondback moth caterpillars). Properly identifying these pests will help in selecting control methods. For aphids, there are many natural predatory insects, such as lady beetle larvae, lacewings, syrphid flies, damsel bugs, and wasps. For more information on predatory insects, see HGIC 2820, Natural Enemies: Predators and Parasitoids. If additional control is needed for aphids, a commercially prepared insecticidal soap may be used. For more detailed information on insecticidal soap, see HGIC 2771, Insecticidal Soaps for Garden Pest Control. A naturally occurring bacterium, B.t. (Bacillus thuringiensis), may be used to control young caterpillars. As with all pesticides, read the label and apply at recommended rates and frequencies. Regardless of what pest you have, it is a good idea to maintain good sanitation in the garden. Always remember to remove any leftover plant debris at the end of the season. This will help reduce many over-wintering pest problems.

Many of our tried and true recipes and dishes can be ‘modified’ to increase vegetables, fiber, and fruits by making simple adjustments to meals we already eat. Many of us love watching chefs on TV but tend to go back to old favorites, i.e., macaroni and cheese, potato salad, beef stew, soup, fried chicken, broccoli casserole, spaghetti, etc.