September 22, 2020 - Garden and Allotment Tips and Advice

Growing purple sprouting broccoli

November 9, 2024September 22, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Growing purple sprouting broccoli

Are you a broccoli fan? Have you ever tried purple sprouting broccoli? Did you know purple sprouting broccoli is highly nutritious it is lots of vitamin A and C and full of folic acid. You will feel the benefits of eating this type of broccoli. You can grow great crops of purple sprouting broccoli lasting you from autumn all the way to the year after. Here you will learn about growing purple sprouting broccoli.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Purchase Purple Sprouting Broccoli Seeds

Are you looking at trying to grow purple sprouting broccoli? Here we recommend the best variety to try growing at home and on the allotment. You can purchase it directly from Amazon from the link below.

When to sow, plant and harvest purple sprouting broccoli

Planting, sowing and harvesting your purple sprouting broccoli at the right times of the year is important so that you get better crops and harvests. You want to make the most out of your plants. Here we have the dates for doing all the specific tasks with your purple sprouting broccoli.

Sow	March to June
Plant	June to August
Harvest	August – June

Please remember these dates all depend on the weather and temperature in the UK where you are based

How to sow purple sprouting broccoli

Sowing purple sprouting broccoli dates all depend on the temperature in your area. You can start them off in March if you live in a warmer area of the Uk but people often start them off towards the end of April beginning of May.

To sow the sprouting broccoli seeds this can be done in a seed tray filled with normal multi-purpose compost. Sprinkle the seeds evenly across the compost. The broccoli seeds are small balls. They are still easy to handle though. Make sure they are spread out in the compost then they will be easier to transplant.

Cover the seeds with compost lightly. Water the seeds but do not drown them. You can now cover them with a seed propagator or cling film to keep them warm and moist this will help with the broccoli seed germination and guarantee better success.

You can now place the seed tray on a windowsill, in a warm greenhouse or polytunnel. Just make sure there is plenty of sunlight.

Once the broccoli seeds start to germinate you can take the cling film off the top of the seed tray for the seeds to grow. Keep them in warm place.

How to plant purple sprouting broccoli

When the purple sprouting broccoli is big enough to handle and strong enough you can now transplant them to individual plant pots to keep growing until the chance of frost has passed.

In June you can now plant the broccoli plants outdoors as the risk of frost should have passed by now. Before planting out you can improve the soil for the broccoli to grow in by adding some well-rotted organic matter and compost to the soil. Make sure you have weeded the area well and got rid of any roots in the soil to prevent more weeds growing back

Just before planting out make sure you have given the plants a good watering this helps the plants take when transplanting. When planting out they require a lot of space to grow. Plant them around 60-70cm apart

How to care for purple sprouting broccoli

Purple sprouting broccoli does not require much care and attention. Water every 10 to 14 days in dry spells. More often in hot weather. You can stake the sprouting broccoli up with canes to hold it up and stop it from falling over.

You can feed the purple broccoli by creating your own feed – this can be done with nettles soaked in water for a few week. You can also feed them with blood, fish and bone pellets or even chicken pellets.

When the middle floret starts to develop you can pinch this out so that the side shoots on the broccoli grow bigger and better.

You can protect your purple sprouting broccoli by placing netting or a fine fleece over it when you plant them. This is because the birds will eat the broccoli plants down to the base especially the pigeons. It will also stop the butterflies from laying there eggs on the leaves and producing caterpillars which will devour them.

How to harvest purple sprouting broccoli

The best bit of growing purple sprouting broccoli is harvesting it when it is ready. So when is purple sprouting broccoli ready to harvest? Depending on the variety you have chosen to grow depends on when you will be harvesting the purple broccoli. You could be harvesting it from late summer through to winter. Most varieties of purple sprouting broccoli will be ready to pick in March – April the following year. So do not expect to be eating it pretty soon after planting. This broccoli takes it’s time to grow. You can find out more about harvesting broccoli here.

Now you know about growing purple sprouting broccoli. If you would like to grow normal broccoli you can find the tips and advice here.

Grow your own broccoli

November 9, 2024September 22, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Grow your own broccoli

Are you a broccoli lover? Broccoli is getting more and more popular. It is extremely popular in the fitness industry as it’s classed as a superfood. More people are eating it on a daily basis, it is delicious, juicy but broccoli is also expensive to purchase. So why not grow your own broccoli in the garden or allotment? Here we are going to explain how to grow broccoli with our helpful gardening hints and tips. If you fancy trying to grow purple sprouting broccoli check out our tips here.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Purchase Broccoli Seeds

Are you looking at growing broccoli in the garden or the allotment? Purchasing the right seeds is important to getting great crops. Below is a link to our recommend seeds to try growing. These can be purchased directly from Amazon

When to sow, plant and harvest broccoli

Sowing, planting and harvesting your broccoli is vital to be done at the right time. This way you can get the best harvest and crops out of your vegetables. Here is our kept on when to do these jobs with your broccoli at the right times in the UK.

Sow	April to July
Plant	May to August
Harvest	February to April and July to October

Please remember this all depends on the temperature and weather in the UK

How to sow broccoli seeds

Sowing your broccoli seeds at the right time could get you longer harvest times. Above our chart tells you when the best time is to sow your broccoli.

To sow your broccoli seeds you can use a seed tray filled with multipurpose compost. Sprinkle the seeds evenly on the seed tray. The seeds are very small balls. Try and not sow them near each other.

You can then cover the seeds with a thin layer of compost. Water the seeds to kick start the germination. You can cover the tray with a propagator or even a layer of cling film. This will keep the seeds warm and moist and speed up germination times.

Once the seeds have started to germinate you can take the cling film off the seed tray.

Place the seed tray in a warm greenhouse our windowsill where there is plenty of light.

How to transplant broccoli

Once your broccoli plants are big enough and strong enough to handle they can be moved to individual plant pots to grow bigger and stronger before planting outdoors. They only need to go in small plant pots.

When your broccoli plants are big enough and have developed a few leaves they are ready to plant outdoors. Wait until the frost has gone before planting the broccoli plants outdoors.

When you are ready to plant your broccoli plants outdoors make sure you have cleared an area and that it is weed free. Your broccoli plants will not like to compete with the weeds in the garden for the nutrients and the water. You can improve the soil by adding some well rotted organic matter, manure. Make sure it is well dug into the soil.

The day before planting your broccoli plants out make sure that you water them well the day before. This gives them the extra chance of not dying during transplanting.

Plant your broccoli plants around 50cm apart. This gives you enough room to weed in between the broccoli plants. If the broccoli plants are planted too close together you won’t get many side shoots growing on the broccoli plants.

Once you have planted them make sure you cover them straight away with horticultural fleece as the birds especially the pigeons will eat them down to the bases and destroy the plants.

How to care for broccoli plants

Broccoli plants do not need much caring for. Just make sure they are kept weed free. Water the plants every 14 days in dry weather or more often in extremely dry weather.

How to harvest broccoli

You need to be on the ball when harvesting broccoli as it can soon go to flower. If the head looks ready pick it. If the broccoli florets are going a yellow colour this means it’s about to bolt so get it harvested. You can find out more information on harvesting broccoli here.

Now you will know how to grow your own broccoli and get great results.

Broccoli Pests and diseases

Broccoli can be attacked by pests and diseases here you can find out what to do to prevent them.

Birds:- Birds will strip the plants when they are young. Cover the plants as soon as you have planted them with horticultural fleece or fine netting to protect them from getting destroyed.

Cabbage Root Fly:- this is when the larvae feed on the roots of the plants and destroy the plants. The plants will whither and die. Like above put fleece over the top or insect proof netting to protect them.

Club Root:- This is when the roots grow distorted and not good. You can improve soil drainage to prevent this.

Broccoli Facts

Broccoli is part of the brassica family. It is related to the cabbage, sprouts and cauliflower family
It is a cool weather crop
Broccoli is classed as a super food for its vitamins and nutrients.

When To Harvest Broccoli

November 9, 2024September 22, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

When To Harvest Broccoli

Broccoli can be expensive to purchase from the supermarket so growing it can save you lots of money. Plus broccoli is a superfood so many people who train and work out eat it so is highly popular. Knowing when to harvest broccoli is important though as if you just leave it past the right time it will go to seed and you could lose all the hard work you have put in. When broccoli goes to flower it is called bolting. So how do you know when to harvest broccoli? You will find out here all our gardening tips and advice.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Harvesting Broccoli

Knowing the right time to harvest broccoli is important. You will know when to harvest your broccoli as it will have formed a broccoli head on top of the plant. Usually, broccoli heads will be around 10cm to 15cm but that can also depend on the variety. The head that forms will be compact and tight on the broccoli. If you see a change in color of the broccoli floret from a dark green to a yellow color it means that the broccoli is about to bolt and go to flower so needs harvesting straight away. Usually, the individual florets on the broccoli are the size of a pencil lead.

How Do You Harvest Broccoli?

Making sure you harvest broccoli correctly is a must. If you do it right you could be harvesting more broccoli from the plant.

To harvest the broccoli you need a sharp knife (do not let children do this). With the knife cut the head of the broccoli around 10cm below the head with one sharp cut. Do not saw or be rough with the cutting of the broccoli head as this could damage and harm the broccoli plant.

Did you know that more broccoli will grow on the plant once you have cut the tops off? It will grow broccoli florets from the sides of the plant. This is why you need to be careful when cutting the heads off as you could be harvesting lots more from the plant.

As the side shoots are ready cut them off, the broccoli heads will not be as big as the side shoots but remember how big the floret heads are around the size of pencil lead.

When you have finished harvesting the broccoli off the plant you can actually eat the broccoli leaves like cabbage as they are from the same family of plants.

You now know how to harvest broccoli. You can find out plenty more gardening hints and tips here.

If you would like to learn about growing your own broccoli you can find out here.

How to grow chillies in UK

November 9, 2024September 22, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

How to grow chillies in UK

Have you ever tried growing chillies before? You can have great success from growing chillies here in the UK. All you need is is some warmth either in a greenhouse, polytunnel or a conservatory and you could have some great success and a fantastic harvest from your chilli plants. Here you will find out how to grow chillies in UK

There are many varieties of chillies that can be grown in the UK. You can get the very mild ones right through to the boiling hot ones that you may struggle to eat depending how good you are with spicy food.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Click to see book on Amazon

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Purchase Chilli seeds

Are you looking at growing chilli plants at home in the garden or the Allotment? If the answer is yes you will need to buy some chilli seeds. You can either use a chilli that you have bought from the shop and dry the seeds out or you can purchase your own. Below is a link to Amazon where you can purchase your own seeds.

When to Sow, Plant and Harvest your Chillies

Knowing the right time for sowing your seeds, planting your chillies and harvesting your produce is vital so that you get the best crops from your produce. Here we provide you with dates for you chillies in the UK

Sow	February to April
Plant	June
Harvest	July to October

Please remember these dates all depend on the weather in the UK and the temperature.

How to Sow Chilli Seeds

Chillis are bes started off indoors at the end of winter as they will need lots of warmth to help them germinate. Plus starting them off early gives them longer time to produce great crops.

To sow your chilli seeds fill a seed tray with good quality compost then sprinkle the seeds on top of the surface evenly. They will probably all germinate so only sow what you need to. Cover the seeds with a fine layer of compost. Water the compost and cover the seed tray with a propagator or use cling film. This will keep the compost warm and it will keep it moist which will save you from watering it.

Place your seed tray somewhere warm that has plenty of sunlight – on a windowsill would be a good spot. When the seeds start to germiante you can remove the propagator or the cling film.

How to plant out your chilli plants

When your chilli seeds have germinated and have grown to around 3cm you can now pot them up into individual plant pots. Plant them in small plant pots with standard compost.

When you can see the roots popping through the bottom of the plant pot you can transplant them to there final plant pots. You can either plant them in flower buckets with holes in or you could grow them in grow bags.

How to look after your chilli plants

As the chilli plants start to grow bigger you can stake them up with a garden cane to support them as they are growing so they don’t topple over and snap.

When the plants are around 25cm tall you can pinch the tops of the plants to encourage branches to grow on the chilli plants which will get more fruit on them.

To make sure that you get great crops on the chilli plants they will require watering regually every day to every other day.

When the flowers start to appear on the plant they will require feeding once every fortnight. You can use general tomato feed.

How to Harvest Chillies

This is the moment you have been waiting for harvesting your produce which has been growing for around 6 months. The more you pick them the more chillies will grow on the plant. If you are leaving them to ripen red they will not produce as many chillies on the plant.

Now you know how to grow chillies in UK. Do you want to know if the pepper is a fruit or a vegetable? Find out here.