Deanna,

The flowers are edible and taste great......that broccoli head will still be fine to eat. Cut it off, eat it and the plant will send out dozens of side shoots for you to eat also. You can let one of the small side shoots develop to seed if you want to and it is not a hybrid. I cut my main heads weeks ago and still have an almost unlimited supply of side shoots for the table. Fact is my favorite part of the plant is the long stems on the side shoots.

Pic from this morning.

FWIW, if the broccoli variety is a hybrid, you may not get good seed anyway. & you can totally harvest & eat it @ almost any stage of development - tho the stems get pretty tough after awhile.

It's an heirloom, Waltham 29. I try to buy seed that's heirloom, open pollinated...I'm poor so I collect the seed, lol. (no really)

Mine's tighter than the one you picture, but it's getting there. Guess I'll eat it tonight anyway! Thanks so much!

Those in the pic are side shoots. I love the stems so let them get long and then simply trim off any of the lower part that may be woody. The plants mission in life is to replicate itself so if you keep removing the side shoots you make it keep trying until in the end the heat gets it.

I'm a sucker for bees, I let them all bolt after a few pickings just to enjoy the bees...you'd be ashamed of me if you saw how much I didn't cut. I can't help but wonder here in Zone 10 if it wouldn't be perennial, just like okra, if shaded from the summer heat. I've thrown out my container plants in past years, usually in April, but I'm tempted to plant them in the ground in the filtered shade of the front yard over the summer just to see what happens. Votes? Yea or nay?

Tom

I have been greatly blessed by having the biggest wild honeybee swarm that LIVES in my yard...I've tried to follow the bee trail for several months and think I have in narrowed down to one corner of a pine stand that has a few scrub oaks.

My flame o'the woods vine has set blooms 3 times already this year. I've got to download and set up photobucket to show some of the pics...I literally have hundreds of bees all around me all day...it's fabulous!

I've taken great pleasure in my bolted brocolli. My landscaper was "yelling" at me for letting them go, but the bees have loved them.

CB

Pabrocb, I'm with you...I'd rather have the bees too! (My dog tries to catch them and eat them...he's had a couple of nasty stings!) I make everyone move slowly around the back deck...bees die after they sting and I'll be more than angry if I lose bees to flailing arms! Can't stop the dog, lol

It is funny about the honey bees as they pay no attention at all to the tens of thousands of blueberry blossoms. The bumble bees on the other hand love the bb flowers.

Tom, I think you might be onto something with trying to take the plants through the Summer. One thing I've learned here though is that as the heat comes on and my in-ground plants start to decline, the nematodes are a big part of the reason.

I think you would have a better chance to pull it off if they stayed in the pots and were simply moved to a cooler shaded area. Just a guess since I've never grown my broc in containers. I always get a good Winter crop in the in-ground garden though before the heat arrives.

It is funny about the honey bees as they pay no attention at all to the tens of thousands of blueberry blossoms. The bumble bees on the other hand love the bb flowers.

I've noticed the same thing about my perennial morning glories....

Tom, I think you might be onto something with trying to take the plants through the Summer. One thing I've learned here though is that as the heat comes on and my in-ground plants start to decline, the nematodes are a big part of the reason.

Gee, I've not tried to grow broccoli in the ground so I had no idea they were a neem-fest too! :-(

Tom

I have raised beds infected with nematodes badly. Tomatoes just don't make it there. Interestingly, I always grow there broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi and never saw any single small sign of nematode damage on them.

It might be that the nematodes aren't all to blame but they do get into my brocolli roots big time. I don't think broc much cares for the wet feet season and that is when the "todes" get wound up.

Now the okra is really the "neem fest" crop. I always get a crop but that's because I plant so much. This year they are going in pots and I will get to see if it is a better way or not.

This year they are going in pots and I will get to see if it is a better way or not.

They'll do fine in containers but they are water-hogs just like tomatoes in containers...you'll have to watch them or they will wilt if they don't get enough water as we move further into the hot dry season before the rains come.

Tom

My eggplants are bigger water hogs then my tomatoes and they have done very well in the containers so I think the okra will work out ok.

The eggplants produced all winter and are now fruiting out again for another go.

I planted broccoli from Lowes back in January and they aren't doing well at all. They are about the same size as when I bought them! I don't know what's wrong. I sure wanted more broccoli this spring.

Tom, how do you make the text italic like you do?

Tom, how do you make the text italic like you do?

(i)*****(/i)

Where ( = just can't put in the explanation or it all would have shown up in italics ;-)

just can't put in the explanation or it all would have shown up in italics ;-)

Tom

Ana, I have a GREAT solution for getting rid of nematodes in raised beds. Found this in a book called "Month by Month Gardening in Florida".

Get sheet plastic and 2" PVC pipe from HD. Lay the pipes about a foot apart flat on the soil (mine is in 10' lengths but I have some that I cut to 3.33' to do a third of the bed).

Spread the plastic over the area you want to treat (I have 3 veggie beds, so I usually do one bed at a time but it can be done in unused portions of a bed at any time)and secure it by putting more soil ALL THE WAY around on top of the edges making it airtight and keeping it from raising up in wind.

Then just leave it for 6 weeks (works best in full sun). It literally bakes the nematodes out! The pipe keeps a bit of airflow so you won't end up with moldy soil.

I've never had nematode problems since I started using this method.

I do this especially during the HOT months, when I have gaps in the garden...I've learned to plant things like okra, peppers and cherry toms (first that came to mind...no coffee yet, lol) in one section of the garden so that I can treat more of the bed with one sheet of plastic.

When it's time to set your new seedlings for fall, pull up the sheeting, wash off the pipes and store (or use as support) turn the soil, water it well, then pop in your new plants!

I'm going to try this with OGR that are on Dr. Huey stock.

Thank you! Very interesting! I tried covering with plastic without pipes and it didn't work. I wonder what pipes do to increase the temperature. I need to try that!
Because of nematodes, my tomatoes are strictly in containers!