Sue, Been there, done that! I have grown broccoli for many years. I used to buy plants and was limited to what the greenhouses had. When I lost the ability to buy green comet I then switched to seeds. I now grow spring planted broccoli and mid summer planted for fall harvest. I could, and probably will, say a lot about this! my recommendation to you is to buy seeds of calabrese green sprouting italian (cgsi). Many stores sell the seeds and catalogs as well. This is an excellent variety tho it is a late variety. Due to the lateness, 82 days to maturity (dtm), I also grow an early variety that has a 50 or 60 dtm. Early dividend is my early variety tho this spring I'm going to switch to de cicco to see how it does in the spring. Not impressed with it's fall production. I don't like packman (very well liked), it's the only variety that has given me trouble. Tried de cicco for fall harvest last summer, the side shoots were almost nil and head size was small. Perhaps as a spring variety it would do better, not for fall for me, cut the head and done. So buy plants or start seeds of an early variety and either pull them after the main head matures (about 7/4) or keep them for side shoot production. early dividend has good side shoot production all year. Broccoli is fussy about when to start and put out in the spring, if it's too cold or too hot it can ruin head formation. Broccoli is a heavy feeder so it needs fertilization too. Summer heat is not broccoli's friend but it will survive in full sun all day if you water it and do quite well. The hotter it is the more often you water. Here's why I recommend cgsi. The main heads are large. Now most broccoli grows shoots, mini heads, but they are small and you can spend 5 minutes cutting 2 handfuls of side shoots. In august I can't justify baking in the sun for that. In the fall the side shoot production goes up and you need to cut a lot more. Cgsi grows large side shoots, like mini heads, but not tons of them. Very reasonable production even in the heat of summer and you spend a minute or two cutting side shoots from 6 plants not 30 minutes fussing with those mini shoots! While I have grown cgsi for a few years, this summer cemented it as the best to grow. This past summer in august we had texas heat and mississippi humidity, it was brutal. My cgsi broccoli just thrived! In the past, my broccoli plants wilted severely or died but I was not watering them enough I know realize. After the main heads were cut side shoot production, even thru 95-103 degree days with 80-82 degree nights and dew points of 78-79, was the best I ever had. Why? I watered. In that intense heat I gave each plant 7/10 ths to 1 1/2 gallons of water each evening about 4 pm, morning may have been better but I work. My well thru my hose gives 1 gallon in 10 seconds so if I counted to 7 that was 7/10ths of a gallon. I do not mulch broccoli it attracts slugs. I had 2 plants that went bad in may, shriveled leaves, no stalk formation, they looked terrible. One died, I just ignored the other. By late june it actually started to grow lots of leaves and by mid august 3 separate plants were growing in that 1 spot, huge plants, each bigger than any cgsi I ever saw by 33%! These 3 made the other cgsi look smallish. They (the 3) produced vast amounts of broccoli after the main heads that were immense but thru that time the spring planted plants also produced very large shoots with 3"-4" heads too! So don't believe that broccoli is just for spring or fall. Cgsi does well here and you are basically where I am. Having different varieties with different dtm will spread the harvest but just so much. Typically dtm is 45-85. this is why I recommend cgsi, those large and prolific side shoots, mini heads 3" sometimes 4" in diameter, spread the harvest. Starting from seed requires lights. This can be as simple as 1 4' 2 tube shop light fixture with 2 99 cent tubes or a $800 plant stand with lights. Whatever route, you must keep the plants, any plants not just broccoli, within 2" of the tubes so you have to be able to either adjust the fixture or the plants to maintain the correct distance. Lights on 16 hours per day no more no less. Broccoli seed should be started so that 5-6 week old seedlings (no younger no older) can go out 2 weeks before your last frost date for spring planting. For me that's 5/31 (last frost date) so mine go out 5/15 so I start my seeds 4/1. for summer plants/fall harvest I time the dtm (harvest for mid to late sept) plus seed starting so I have 5 week old plants and plant on that day. Broccoli will grow up to thanksgiving but the reduced light will greatly diminish growth, my point broccoli as a mature plant tolerates freezing well. Broccoli is sweeter after several frosts. I would not recommend direct seeding in summer tho I have never done it. The reason is the soil is just plain hot, very hot. All my fall crops (cabbage, broccoli, kale, even rutabagas in peat pots you can't disturb their roots) are started inside where it is cooler in july and august. I did direct seed carrots for the 1st time on 8/1 last year with good results but they must be kept damp by covering with burlap or boards. Even in the spring, carrots are hard to germinate and that trick works then too. But I suggest starting your broccoli inside about 7/1 to 7/7 put out about 8/5 to 8/15. any later and you may run out of growing season. The interesting thing I found with july started broccoli last year is that even tho I was pushing the envelope with my dates (cgsi is 82 dtm while the de cicco package says 48-80 dtm that spread is absurd and both varieties went out the same day), the cgsi broccoli seemed to know that the days were shortening and actually produced heads a lot earlier than the stated dtm! I picked the de cicco at about 50 days and the cgsi was about 10 days later - far less than expected. You learn something new each season. tom

Have you seen this, very interesting. Found this on http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/b19558de-275c-4ac9-aa39-dc9d12b91872 'What is it: Cima di rapa (aka broccoli raab or broccoli rabe or rape by Americans) literally means turnip top and that what it is-a turnip green. it is not related in the slightest to broccoli (which in Italian is called cavolo ___, e.g. cavolo broccolo for true broccoli, cavolfiore for cauliflower, cavolo verza for savoy cabbage, cavolo laciniato for tuscan kale) Here in the United States it is often referred to as broccoli rabe. The rabe is obviously a corruption of rapa; the broccoli probably comes from the little 'tops' you find on most varieties of cima di rapa that somewhat resemble a broccoli head. There are ten or so varieties of cima di rapa in Italy. Franchi Sementi carries Quarantina (40 day), Sessantina (60 day), Novantina(90 day, centoventina (120 day) & maceratese. All but the maceratese have the little 'tops' that most people associate with cima di rapa. Maceratese has no tops. In addition to those that Franchi Sementi carries there is a foglia d'olivio (olive leaf). You may also see some called riccia san marzano (sometimes these are called cima grosso or large top) and they tend to have more in the way of tops which are a bit bent over or curled, hence the name, riccia (curly). They come in the 40, 60, 90 & 120 day versions. So what is the difference. Size mostly; the longer they take to mature, the larger the plant. The 40 day one is 10-12 inches high; the 90 day one will get to 16-17 inches with some pretty huge leaves and stalks. None of the Italian varieties have as many tops as the Andy Boy Brococli Rabe you find in the supermarkets; that is a variety developed by the grower and I do not believe the seed is available for sale. 'How to grow cima di rapa (broccoli rabe). First, forget the folk wisdom that these need to be grown in cool weather, otherwise they will go to seed [send up the dreaded yellow flowers]. That is not so. You can grow them throughout the growing season. On the other hand, they will bolt almost as quickly in the spring as they do in the summer. Another piece of folk wisdom is that their names describe the number of days until maturity. No so. I can guarantee that if you plant quarantina & wait forty days, by the 40th day, you will have a lovely patch of yellow flowers. In fact, quarantina generally takes about 32 days; sessantina about 40-45 days; novantina & foglia d'olivio about 50-55 days. In order to grow cima di rapa successfully, you need to follow two simple rules. First, give them plenty of space. The seeds are tiny and it is hard to drop one seed. People almost always sow them too thickly. What I do is plant in a row and space rows ten inches or so for the 40 day, 12 inches for the others. I try try to drop one seed per inch; of course I never do. No matter. The cima di rapa germinates in a few days and in 10 days or so, it will be two or three inches high. Thin it to 4' for the 40 day & 6' for all the rest. Use the thinnings in salad. Secondly, as soon as the plant makes a 'top', cut it. Dont even wait a day. Cut it, wash it, put it in a plastic bag and store it in the crisper of your refridgerator. If you leave it out in the garden, it will bolt within two days; if you cut it & put it in the crisper, it will store ten days or more. Forget about multiple cuts also. It will not grow back or if it does, there is not much in the quality department. The trick is to succession plant it; replant every week or so if you are really into cima di rapa. The alternative is to plant a couple of different varieties.'' Here is a link that might be useful: Grow Italian

Carol, Hooray for the fantastic flavor of fresh! Congrats on the broccoli harvest. I hope y'all are able to harvest a lot more before the weather gets too hot. DeCicco sideshoots really well which helps make up for the small heads, although if you get too hot too soon that might not happen. Randy, I hope the heat holds off too. I just finished my broccoli harvest here in southern OK this morning because the weather was leaving me no choice. It is 96 degrees at the present time and hot, hot, hot. Dorothy, You got a really nice harvest considering how awful the weather has been. I'm still weighing and recording my harvest too so far, except for the cherry tomatoes, peas and plums I eat on the spot as soon as I pick them. Since it is so hot here, the cabbage, peas, and broccoli are done, whether I like it or not. It is unbearably hot for late May. It's great that the cherry tree came through with some fruit. Do you suppose the cherry will send off enough new growth to completely regrow from that stump? It sure sounds like it is trying. This heat is ripening the fruit very fast. This morning I checked the plums and all we had were green ones (because I picked and ate the few ripe ones yesterday) and a few with some ripening on the blossom end. By noon, we had a half-dozen that have beautiful ripe-looking color although I'll probably not pick them until tomorrow. Who'd think they could develop that much color in about 5 or 6 hours? Lynn, Broccoli is so hard to get a crop from. If it gets too cold too early, it either doesn't head up or it gives you button heads, which are about the size of a quarter. If it stalls for any reason (too much rain, too little rain, too cold, too hot, too windy, etc.), it loses valuable time and doesn't set heads until the heat has arrived and then the heads bloom prematurely. I don't know what to tell you. I'd certainly hang in there and give it a chance to form heads. One variety we grew, Major, had no heads at all on Monday or Tuesday, and I harvested 5" to 6" heads from some of those plants around 6 a.m. today, although others look completely unchanged and may not form heads. Broccoli is just a diva and can be very frustrating to grow in our climate because we go from too cold to too hot just too quickly many years. You can do everything right, but since you cannot control the weather, you still may not get a harvest. That may be what is happening to yours. Perhaps the coming cold front, which will cool down most of the state at least somewhat, will give your broccoli the right temps and it will quickly form flowerheads. I think this is the hottest Memorial Day weekend I can remember having since we moved here. The dogs and cats are inside the house sleeping in air conditioned comfort and I think the chickens would have followed them right into the house if I would have let them. We went to the grocery store and all we wanted to buy was ice cream (we did buy other stuff, but we spent way too long on the ice cream aisle). It is too hot to think about cooking something. If it is this hot in May, what in the world will June, July and August be like? Dawn

Harvest the blooming ones ASAP. Cut off the blooming part and eat the rest. You harvest broccoli heads when they reach the right size for the variety you're growing OR if the florets are starting to separate and look like they're about to flower, they you go ahead and harvest and don't wait for the broccoli heads to get any bigger. If they're trying to bloom, they are past their prime and won't get bigger. Cut off the head about 6 or 7" down the stalk and leave the plant in the ground. It should soon start producing side shoots. They'll stay small and you just harvest them when they are nice and mature looking but not yet flowering.