7/21/08
Out on my deck stands one of those illogical things that makes gardening so adventuresome: The broccoli tree. This plant is one year old and four feet tall, and has yet to produce a single floret. Once or twice a week the lowest leaves turn yellow and fall off, while the stalk grows another inch or more. In silhouette it’s starting resemble a palm tree.
How, you might ask, did such an aberration come about?
By applying human logic, of course!
Living in a cool climate as I do, I’m always delighted to find a plant — especially a vegetable — that prefers cool summers. Broccoli, like lettuce, can be put out early and tends to “bolt” (go to flower or seed) during peak season heat (80s here). According to every garden guide I’ve read, broccoli can also provide a fall harvest if you plant a second crop during early-mid July. Some gurus add that this is a great plan if you live in a cool climate.
I therefore tried summer planting for three years, and though a few broccolis did survive into fall, I can’t say I ever got a meal out of one. (My first gardening year, however, all the broccolis I planted in April were still providing food on Thanksgiving day.) Last year I started a July broccoli in a big pot and brought it inside when the killing frosts arrived. All winter, I diligently watered it. It grew to about a foot high and sat there in suspended animation until I placed it out on the deck this spring.
Then it commenced growing. And growing. I continued watering it, now and then providing food. It keeps growing. Some of the leaves are as long as my forearm! If only it would produce a head in proportion!
Two months remain of the growing season. If it doesn’t head, I’ll be facing a crisis come frost. With help from husband and hand truck, I suppose I could get it inside again — perhaps go for a broccoli-plant survival record. Else I’ll have to watch winter take it down. That would be depressing.
Meanwhile, of the broccoli planted this spring in the lasagna garden, half have formed the biggest heads of any I’ve ever grown, while the other half, in full sun for the first time, have bolted. They all went in on the same day and are inches apart.
Logic? What logic?
Mother Nature moves in mysterious ways!
Carolyn Haley
Author: Open Your Heart with Gardens
Posted by: Opening the heart, gardens, gardening, yard, plants, cultivation — Carolyn Haley
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