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Square Foot Gardening

Broccoli for SF Gardens

18 years ago

Looking through a catalog from the Vermont Bean Seed Company and see that they have a broccoli "Munchkin" -- 60 days -- that gets big heads on short and compact plants. They recommend spacing of 8" to 12" sounds like the right on for SFG. Has anyone tried it.

I am going to test it in my fall garden. My goal is garden fresh broccoli for Thanksgiving dinner.

Other canadates for fall winter here -- lettuce, cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrotsm and beets. First frost usually late November or early December. But we get lots of warm weather even Dec, Jan. and Feb.

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Comments (6)

Jacque_E_TX
18 years ago
Sounds like a good bet--might even try one square of them at 6-inch spacing, since your soil is far richer than the average bed, and you can plant shallow leaf lettuces around the brocs.

With occasional use of thermal row cover, you should be able to garden year 'round in the Carolinas. Year before last, my peppers survived 3-day freezes uncovered--only the top layer of leaves died back at each freeze. I had red peppers on plants on January 1. The tomatoes (trellised on wire fencing) lost their leaves, but the green stems and roots continued to grow out the "marbles" I had left on the branches, and even set a few new fruits during warm spells. I had fresh maters in early December. And those were mainly just Celebrities, IIRC.

All the best for a fabulous Fall!
monika1
18 years ago
I planted broccoli, not 100% sure, but I think it's munchkin. Anyway, I planted them 1 per square foot. My excellent soil supports this and in fact my broccoli are growing extremely well. Almost too well. I have carrots, onions and other things next to my broccoli and the broccoli leaves are so huge they are shading the other plants and making it hard for them to grow. So I've been pinching off some of the larger leaves.

I think they need more than 1 square foot, maybe 16 inches x 16 inches. Next time I think I'll not fully plant the neighboring squares.
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jengc, I am NOT saying that epsom salt will not help. Anything that has calcium will help with bottom end rot. Although hydrated lime is probably preferred. I am merely suggesting that the addition of kelp meal is a near perfect amendment for the soil. The kelp (especially if it is harvested fresh, not the stuff that washes up on shore) contains all the micronutrients that plants need to be fully healthy. The bottom end rot is a single symptom of a single deficiency in the soil. All plants have certain elements that they need to have available to produce fully nutritious and healthy plants. If the soil does not contain these elements, the plants that grow there cannot either. Sometimes you will not be aware of these elements missing, because there is no glaring symptom (like the BER for tomatoes). Other times the plants will be more prone to insect pest attack, because the insects tend to be attracted to plants that are stressed. My suggestion of kelp meal is that adding this amendment to the soil will help promote the healthy growth of all your plants, because it contains the micronutrients that they all need. It should also help your BER problem as well. If you can't afford it, just get the remedy for BER, but if you have a little extra, kelp meal can go a long way to keeping ALL your plants happy and healthy. Happy, healthy plants produce more and have less pest problems than stressed plants. Just something to keep in mind.
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Jacque_E_TX
18 years ago
Howdy, Monika.

Sounds like your brocs are just fine--squarefooting is all about crowding. We crowd out weeds, crowd in more nutrients, and crowd more productivity out of our gardens.

You might just plant the brocs along bed edges or beside something big enough to fend for its own square. lol
monika1
18 years ago
Yes, my garden does seem a bit crowded, it's good to know that's what it's supposed to be like, this is my first year with a garden.

Not only are my broccoli space-hogs, but my beans are going crazy and shading out my onions and garlic. Maybe a little more planning next year to help contain everything in it's respective square. ;)
Boris_edm
18 years ago
Broc's are doing fine in Boris' Box...

Here is a link that might be useful: Boris' Boxes
breezyb
18 years ago
I always plant my broccoli no further than 1 foot apart in all directions & always get a bumper crop - even in hot weather. And that's with standard varieties.

I plant in deep well-composted free-form raised beds, & believe that the close-spacing keeps the soil cooler via the dense leaf cover. I've even managed to grow some lettuce under & around the broccoli plants that I'm able to harvest before the broccoli is ready.

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