Nov
8
Broccoli is forming heads now. At least the Calabrese is, and daily inspections remove at least one or more looper each time. The damage is minimal and so far no other control measures are needed. That’s the way I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh. The Calabrese came back strongly from it’s early attack. The Windsor is about 8″ tall and filling out. Looks like just when I’m done harvesting the Calabrese, the Windsor will be coming into it’s maturity. I love it when a plan I didn’t make comes together. Broccoli is a fun plant to watch because it grows so fast…seemingly adding inches every day. And it loves the cold weather, so I’ll continue to feed it every week and I’ll have broccoli until spring, barring some tragic critter attack.
Harvested my first broccoli crown today. A single serving—what I call lunch. It was beautiful and unmarred by loopers, so my daily inspections will continue and should be enough to repel loopers. Happy about that because I always feel defeated when I have to use some sort of control…even if it can be used organically. Really prefer the untouched food. All of my 4-6 bites will be very clean and happy ones….for today…
Finished off the Calabrese broccoli last week. It was good and I had no trouble protecting it from the loopers…..they are easy to pick off. Bruce said the taste was far superior to the grocery store variety. Also have had 2 heads of Windsor so far. Must say I prefer the Windsor variety. It is a large head….perhaps 3 lbs (or more) and beautiful blue sheen. Delicious. Great winter crop for backyard pots. The accidental succession planting was brilliant. Wish I had thought of it instead of the rabbits. I haven’t bought broccoli from the grocery all winter. Since I put the planter up on a table top it has no enemies. (There is no bird problem in the winter!) I don’t even bother to cover it when we have a freeze. I love this stuff.