2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Broccoli (Latin Brassica silvestris) - vegetable culture; an annual plant of the Cruciferous family, or Cabbage. Genetic predecessor and closest relative of cauliflower. Italy is considered the birthplace of broccoli. The culture has not yet become widespread, but it continues to be cultivated in personal garden and summer cottages.
Characteristics of culture
Broccoli is a plant with a dense stem 60-100 cm high, forming a large number of succulent peduncles at the top, ending in groups of small buds of green, purple or bluish color. Succulent flower stalks with buds are collected in a loose head, which is cut off until the buds form yellow flowers that are not suitable for food. The leaves are large, entire, petiolate, wave-like curved at the edges. The leaf blades have a waxy coating.
Unlike its cauliflower relative, broccoli, even after the apical head has been removed, is capable of producing offspring in the leaf axils. Broccoli is a cold-resistant culture, adult plants can withstand frosts down to -7C. The plant is sensitive to elevated temperatures, especially during the formation of heads. Broccoli is moisture-loving, the optimum soil moisture should be 70-80%, and air - 85%. The growing season is 75-100 days.
Growing conditions
Broccoli thrives in cool, damp climates. The optimum growing temperature is 18-23C. Soils are preferable fertile, moist, medium loamy and neutral. Acidic soils are not suitable for broccoli. Cultivation of crops in river floodplains is not prohibited. Broccoli is light-requiring, unlike cauliflower, it does not need shading.
Soil preparation and sowin
The soil for growing crops is prepared in the fall: it is carefully dug up and rotted humus is introduced. In the spring, the ridges are loosened and fed with mineral fertilizers, wood ash and dolomite flour.
Broccoli is grown by sowing seeds in the ground and by seedling. Seeds are sown for seedlings in three terms: the first - from March 15 to April 15, the second - from April 15 to June 15, the third - from June 15 to July 1. The first sowing is done in seedling boxes, the second and third in hotbeds or greenhouses. The seeding depth of seeds is 0.5 cm. The air temperature in the room before the emergence of shoots should be 20-22C, then it is reduced to 10-12C, after which it is gradually brought to 20C. Seedlings dive into separate containers with the appearance of 1-2 true leaves on the seedlings.
In open ground, seedlings of the first sowing are planted in May, the second - in mid-June, the third - at the end of July. Overgrowth of seedlings should not be allowed. The planting pattern is 70 * 20 cm or 60 * 30 cm. When sowing seeds directly into the ground, the rows are placed at a distance of 60 cm from each other, the distance between the plants should be 20-30 cm.
Care
After 1, 5-2 weeks after planting the seedlings, young plants are spud and fed with a liquid mullein. The second feeding is carried out before the formation of broccoli heads. One of the most important broccoli care activities is watering. With a lack of moisture, plants form loose and tasteless heads. To retain moisture for a longer period, the soil near the stem zone is mulched. This procedure will also delay the growth of weeds.
Harvesting and storage
Harvesting broccoli is done either early in the morning or late in the evening. well-formed heads with a diameter of 10-20 cm are cut off. The heads with the inflorescences that have appeared are not suitable for food, they should not be collected. Overexposing the heads is not recommended, as their taste deteriorates.
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