Ten Below on the French Riveria Part II

In our last post we made the observation that, many of the Minnesota "locals" do not realize that South East Minnesota is at the same latitude as the southern coast of France. The Reveria is known for its mild Mediterranean climate and stands in stark contrast to the Minnesota cold.

The reason for this is Minnesota is land locked and is exposed to the Canadian Arctic weather systems. While the southern coast of France has a hugh body of warm water call the Mediterranean Sea to moderate its climate.

But the real key is the amount of sunshine both locations get...they are the same.

So why all the fuss and why does this matter?

Winter Broccoli

Minnesota winters are brutal to annual plants, with Zone 4 winters reaching subzero temps by late November and the temps may not relent until March. I picked the last of our field broccoli in November.

I have been growing broccoli since then in a different venue. I don't have a green house or a grow light, or...

You can do it too and here is how.

How to Control Flea Beetles

Have you noticed those little pin holes in leaves of brassica plants like kale, broccoli and cauliflower. Well those are cause by tiny beetles that are no bigger than a grain of sand.We often ignore them as they don't really cause more than cosmetic damage. However, there are two excellent organic controls.

How to Pick Excellent Fall Broccoli

Broccoli does well in the cold weather each fall. We harvest some main heads but it is mostly the side shoots. Firm and small beads work the best for cold weather.

I like the variety called Marathon for fall. It is very cold hardy and robust.

I've sometimes pick broccoli for Thanksgiving with ice in the heads. But even broccoli will sucumb to temps below the low 20's. If you are heading into such weather. Cut your heads and shoots and put them in the refrigerator. They will keep 3 weeks or more and you won't have to worry about those little green worms.

Sweeter with Frost - Broccoli

Broccoli is one of those garden crops that get sweeter with frost. In honor of our first frost yesterday I'm going to do a series of articles on frost hardy vegetables. Broccoli can tolerate temperatures down to 26 degrees for a brief period of time. We often harvest broccoli until Thanksgiving here in Rochester, Minnesota.
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But why is it sweeter. Broccoli increases it's sugar content after a few light frosts as a protection mechanism against freezing. It is good it does because sweet fall broccoli is some of the best of the season.

We plant the last fall broccoli until approximately the middle to end of August. The normal 45 day maturity is stretched to 75 days when the days get shorter and cooler.

One of the side benefits of the freezing temperatures is the insect pressure goes away. I have some broccoli that is in full production and some that won't be ready for at least a month. Also, one of the full season varieties has great side shoot production. The side shoots can be as large as a full head of broccoli. We planted 6 different varieties this year. The best fall broccoli is a variety called Marathon. Large heads, small bead and very frost hardy.

I'm going to publish a series of posts highlighting the other frost hardy crops and ones where the produce becomes sweeter. There are quite a few and the mechanism for sweetness varies a bit.

It's Broccoli time

We are days away from harvesting our first delicious heads of broccoli. I don't plant the early varieties because I have had trouble with them buttoning and not getting a head to form. I like the mid season varieties planted after the last cold weather. Who knew when that was going to be this year.  These varieties make a nice head every time. We move on to later season varieties from this point on.

The later varieties tolerate warm weather but they really shine when summer turns to fall. We have often harvested our last heads of broccoli around Thanksgiving. With ice frozen in the beads of the head.

I like the variety Marathon from Johnny's for these late plantings.

We are still succession planting broccoli for the next 6 weeks. We will bring transplants to the farmers market if you want to try your hand at fall broccoli. It is some of the best broccoli of the year.

Weed'em and Reap

Our farm team has done an excellent job this season with weeding. We have a world champion weeding team. When the weeds get over about six inches we typically pull them.  When weeds are smaller we use a stirrup hoe or wheel hoe.

With the plants like onions where we use compost in the row, we don't usually have substantial weeds until mid season. We are on the second and final weeding for onions, leeks and shallots. They look excellent and will take care of themselves for the rest of the season.

How to Plant Broccoli: The King of Cancer Prevention

How to Plant Broccoli

We start all our broccoli from seed and pick varieties that do well in our warm humid summers and cool fall weather. We planted about 75 plants this week. Broccoli takes about 40 days from a 3-4 inch transplant to harvest. We typically plant several different cultivars with slightly different maturities to assure a continuous harvest of tender sweet heads. We will start harvest in a week or so.

We bring transplants to market all summer long and are still planting seeds in July and August because fall broccoli is some of the best of the year. Broccoli does very well in the summer heat as long as it has plenty of water. It also acclimates to fall weather and light frosts very well. It is not unusual for us to still be picking broccoli until Thanksgiving if the temperature doesn’t get below about 20 degrees before then. 

We bring to market what we are planting so you can plant fall broccoli too.

So how do I pick the best varieties (see our post on seed selection). Broccoli is one area where I find that the heirloom varieties are completely unsatisfying for commercial use, where the customer is trained to want a firm compact head with small beads. So I look for the most expensive seed in the suppliers list, which typically has the best flavor, best disease resistance, best yields, firmest heads and most predictable maturity. This may not be what the purist gardener would look for, but as a grower for market this “works for me”?

One of our more distinguishing customers did a taste test a few years ago, where she bought broccoli at many different stands at our market. She said our tasted best. She did this over the course of several months in preparation for freezing some for the winter. She wanted to know what variety we planted. We had marketed three different varieties during this time and to her they all “tasted the best”.  Hmmm? Why would that be?

The secret to great flavor in broccoli is to first grow your crop without chemicals. No chemical fertilizers, no chemical sprays and no chemical pesticides. The second is to grow your broccoli in soils that have great minerals from kelp, fish emulsions, rock powders (like calcium), and most if all, lots of amazing compost to feed the soil! Usually we side dress with compost after the plants have been in the ground for a few weeks and are well established. If it is a difficult growing season like this year, we sometimes make a trench and fill the trench with compost, then plant the broccoli into the compost. You cant’ loose with this approach. Just make sure the transplants get enough water during the first week after transplanting (not a problem this year).

If you find cabbage loopers in your broccoli you can easily remove them with a quick dip in a salt solution of one table spoon per gallon of water. This isn’t a problem later in the season after the first few light frosts.

I harvest with a good sharp cabbage knife, our teens use a paring knife. Because they

are inexpensive if you loose them. Which only happens about once a day at our house. When we lived in town it was socks that got lost after every laundry. On the farm it seems to be paring knives. We by 5 packs by the case. When I was a teen and working for the seed corn company doing detassling, we used these same knives to cut out the volunteer corn from the good stuff. This was called rouging, but I digress.

Broccoli will keep several weeks in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Keep the broccoli in a zip lock or handle bag tied shut so it doesn’t wilt. Use as soon as you can as the vitamin content tends to wane after a week or so. Still tastes good though.

Broccoli is one of the best cancer fighting vegetables and also provides great fiber for your system. Great tasting broccoli has more of the phytonutrients (a fancy name for plant nutrients) that keep us well. Eat to your good health.