Sowing

Sow thinly indoors or in a hotbed, about 1cm deep, 4-6 weeks before setting out the plants as planned! The seeds want warmth when germinating, preferably just above 20C. After sprouting they should be in a light, cool and airy place to avoid lankiness and attacks by root-neck rot but not lower than 14C for any length of time. Low temperature increases the risk of bolters a lot. Temper the plants gradually before setting them, when the risk of frost is just about over. Most kinds of cabbage can handle a night of light frost. Set out the seedlings a little deeper and tread down the soil preventing the cabbage flies laying their eggs. Many early sorts can be sown directly as soon as the soil has warmed up. Do not allow the sowing to dry out and look out for the flea-beetles.

Spacing

Keep 5 cm between plants when pre-cultivating. Outdoors, Broccoli needs 40-50 cm between the plants in the row and about 60 cm between the rows. For a once over harvest a mutual distance of 25 cm is enough. The heads are a little smaller and the side-shoots few but the total crop will be at least as good.

Harvest

Cut off the heads with large pieces of their delicious stalks left before the flower-buds have opened, but heads with recently opened flowers are good to eat too. The side-shoots are harvested gradually. The broccoli can handle quite a lot of cold and gets even more delicious after a few nights of frost, just like Kale and Brussels sprouts.I t can remain in its plot far into late autumn. The most common way of storing broccoli is freezing after parboiling. It is also excellent to dry, cut into small pieces, in slow heat.  

Seed

 200-300/g. 8-10 g for 100 seedlings and a little less than 10 g sow 100 m.  
A portion contains about 150 seeds.