Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Broccoli has no heads

pirellynpirellyn Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
hi
i planted broccoli plants in a new ‘no dig’ bed with several inches of farmyard manure topped with compost.  There are no heads but the plants are huge.  Are they ok? Do I just need more patience?  Should I prune them? New to veg!  Btw I live in NE Scotland. 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2019
    Is there a chance that these are the delicious Purple Sprouting Broccoli rather than the large-headed type of broccoli which used to be called Calabrese?

    If they are PSB then I wouldn’t expect them to be producing a crop until late winter/early spring (depending on variety). 

    They look lovely plants 👍 They may need staking with a firmly inserted tomato cane to prevent wind-rock in the winter winds. 

    NO PRUNING!!! 😉 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Too much manure.  In crop rotation systems, potatoes follow manuring, the next year is legumes and the 3rd year is brassicas after adding lime which helps with club root.
    https://www.allotment-garden.org/crop-rotation/four-year-crop-rotation-plan/ 

    They'll happily just keep producing foliage until they feel stressed enough to need to re-produce by making flowers.   They're hardy so I suggest patience to see if you get some flowers later on.  Meanwhile, I'd advise picking over every plant to remove caterpilars and any eggs and then erect some netting to keep butterflies out.  That way you may at least get some greens to eat, even if they don't flower before the frosts come.


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
Sign In or Register to comment.