I'm so sorry yours died.What happened to it.I can loose lots around here because the grass is so big but I'm thinking yours isn't that problem.
Not sure what went wrong, as this is the first time I tried to grow it. As you can see the plants themselves have gotten fairly large. I noticed one little floret coming up in the middle of each plant about 2 weeks ago and thought they would grow into a big enough "head" for me to harvest. Next thing I new they started to flower before they ever got very big. Not the "heads" are good size, but as you can see, they are also in full flower.
Well, it truly is a shame. The most common cause for broccoli or calabrese "shooting",or flowering is not enough moisture. Extra water is necessary especially when the the heads are forming. BTW Xylona--do you recall which type of calabrese this is?
I don't know if this will help or not, but the seed packet said "pacman broccoli". I don't know what the latin name would be. It could very well be not enough water then. My ground dries out pretty quick here. I am drenching my tomato plants daily now (after I read the post about them needing so much water). I have leaves yellowing at the top of those too...but they still seem to be in pretty good shape.
The yellowing leaves on the toms could also be from lack of iron or other nutrience,. Make sure you are feeding your toms every week as well. DOn't over water them. Wait until the ground is dry.
I have heard of the 'Pacman' sort. On the foto of the flowering calabrese, did I see a main 'head' still in the center of the plant? If I did...you must remove the flowering florets, and it will continue to grow until you harvest it. The flowering bits will take away needed 'energy' from the remaining heads. Generally speaking when the heads begin to flower, the end is nigh, in terms of harvestability. About harvesting: You want to pick the heads while the little flowerbuds are still tightly together...at the very, very first hint of yellow they MUST be picked as the peek of their tastiness and readiness has in fact aleady passed. Finding this point is a real art. Most often I miss it out of pure greed (I always want the very biggest head possible), so I wind up picking it when one or two little bud-balls have started to yellow. To be honest it tastes ok to me. A note on your toms. Be careful not to actually overwater them. The daily watering applies genarally to hot, droughty periods when there hasn't been rainfall for days For outside tom plants). Inside everyday watering or every other day watering is more normal. Otherwise every 2-3 days when it's sunny and less if the weather is cool and rainy. I know that it may seem like a difficult thing to grasp, but you WILL get the hang of it. BTW--How often do you feed your toms?
My ground dries out basically everyday and we haven't been getting a whole lot of rain here lately. I haven't fed my toms anything yet...I will have to go purchase some food for them today. There are two big "heads" of flowers...so do you think they will produce more if I cut those two off? By the way, how did plants survive and produce without our care?
Well it will be a toss-up when it comes to removing those big flowering heads (that's because flowering sends a genetic message that the plants have done their job--so they can quit making heads--lets hope that the mother plant hasn't checked her mail ...but come what may, you must remove those flowering heads if you want any chance of a later harvest. Usually the plant will send up some side shutes that can be harvested and eaten. They'll be much, much smaller but they should be tender and quite tasty. Yeah Xylona...I don't know how they managed either.
Well I did a little bit of research (a little late, I know) and found out a few things I did wrong with my broccoli. First I have just been watering them with a watering can, thus watering over the plant. Apparently this forces the plant to flower. Second, it gets too hot here....I planted these too late. They are a cooler weather plant as is the cauliflower. I think that is why both of these haven't done great for me as far as producing food. Next year I will need to try and plant them earlier, I guess. You live and you learn.
Hiyah, Well...the main thing is that you are learning. There are types of broccolis and caulis that you can plant in the summer and harvest in the winter or spring...so you could have another chance sooner than next year, should you wish. The main thing now is to salvage what you can, so that you can at least get a taste of your crops. I hope that you have some luck in doiung that. Ok--so things didn't go according to plan, but the experience is fun anyway, isn't it? Keep on gardening!
I found that brocolli grows better in one part of my yard than other parts. Maybe it's the sunlight, or soil, I don't know. I only water everything once a day.
