If the yellow spots look like the buds are about to flower, then yes, you need to harvest immediately because the broccoli is about to bolt. Sometimes, during a period of rapid enlargement of the head, the heads can get a pale yellowish-green hue as the head enlarges but that is just the color of new growth, and it normally turns darker in a day or so. If the yellow isn't turning darker, then your heads may be preparing to bloom.

Are the heads very large yet?

I harvest when the heads are about to reach the maximum size head that I know a given variety produces, or sooner if it becomes obvious the heads are about to bolt (flower).

Even if it is about to bolt, you can harvest it and eat it. (You can, in fact, harvest the yellow flower heads after they bloom and can eat them, but I don't care for them once they reach that stage.) If the weather is agreeable (i.e. not too hot yet, which it isn't), you can harvest the main head and leave the plants in place and they will produce many side shoots which will give you smaller heads. I usually do that, but sometimes I just yank out the plants after they produce the main heads because I'm holding succession plants in containers that are waiting to go into that space to produce something else. Usually if the main head is harvested in April, I'll leave the plants in the ground for a few more weeks of side shoot production. If the main head isn't harvested until May, I often remove the plants so I can put peppers, southern peas, okra or some other heat-lover in that spot before the weather gets too hot.

The heads themselves are about the size of a door knob, but not quite. I will go out there when I get off work and see if I can see flowers starting to bloom. Last time I looked it didn't look like that, just like yellow spots in the middle of the "trees"..LOL...if that made any sense at all.

No matter what size the heads are, they will loosen up before the flowers open. And quite small broccoli heads can bolt. I have seen some heads no bigger than a quarter starting to bloom on plants in 6-packs still in the garden centers. One of the main reasons to start your own plants is to avoid this "buttonheading" and early bolting.

My broccoli heads were door knob size and had a lot of fresh yellowish-green growth earkt last week. This week they are almost full-sized and a darker green. Hopefully yours will progress in the same way.

I agree with Dorothy about purchased plants being prone to bolt and buttonhead, and generally raise my own transplants in order to avoid this. However, this year we were so hot so early and the plants were in the store at that time (and I hadn't even started my broccoli seedlings yet) so I took a chance and bought and planted broccoli plants from Bonnie Plants. I planted them about the same time I was planting onions in mid-February. They've been doing great and we'll start harvesting very soon now. Most years it doesn't work out so well with purchased transplants. I just got lucky this year because it warmed up extra early and the late cold nights weren't frequent enough or cold enough to induce bolting.

I harvested a few decent size heads from my atwoods plants and they are going crazy with side shoots, like bonus broccoli. Last year I didn't get many side shoots

The weather is so much better in so many ways this year, so those of us who purchased broccoli plants got lucky and they haven't buttonheaded.

I'd say that before I started growing my own transplants, the purchased plants would buttonhead maybe 3 years out of 5. My home-grown plants rarely buttonhead, but occasionally will if the weather turns back really cold and stays there for about a week after the plants have been in the ground a while. This happens because the prolonged cold makes the plants dormant. When the weather warms up again, they break dormancy and begin growing again, and since they are biennials, they perceive that post-dormancy era as their second season and bolt or buttonhead, neither of which gives a good harvest.

This year, we turned back cold for a night or two here or there but we weren't cold enough for enough consecutive days to induce broccoli dormancy and to get either bolting or buttonheading.

It is such a bizarre weather year with all the early heat. My garden is about a month ahead of itself in terms of production. The broccoli main heads are getting quite large and will be harvested soon. The cabbage is forming heads and it seems early for these varieties. The asparagus is about done, but it started a couple of months early, so I figured it would finish early. The potato plants are blooming. The peas are blooming and setting snap pea pods. The lettuce plants are gigantic and some have tried to bolt in the heat, but I cut them back very hard and put an end to that (for the time being).

We've already eaten the first two tomatoes and have a 3rd one in the pink stage now, and 2 more that are turning. Normally we are getting the first tomatoes in late April.

The young bean plants are growing like rockets and just started blooming a couple of days ago. We almost never get beans to harvest in April, but it looks like we will this year. The iceberg lettuce that Tim so adores is heading up. I harvested some of the outer leaves for the first BLTs because he likes the crunch of iceberg and the SummerCrisp plants aren't large enough yet to be crispy. The kale and collards are enlarging so rapidly I cannot keep up with the harvesting of them in a timely manner. The onions have 9 to 11 leaves depending on variety. I'm not complaining about any of the above, but it is not normal...it is like the garden is on "fast forward" and I'm running to catch up with it. My garden looks more like mid-May than mid-April.

I'm now planting the warm-season crops like lima beans, squash, okra etc. Often at this time of the year, I'm ready to plant them but am holding back because of the still too-cool nights. This year, the night-time lows aren't a problem. I haven't started any of the hot-season crops (winter squash, muskmelons, cantaloupes, southern peas or sweet potatoes) but the day when I will plant them is getting closer and closer and closer at a very rapid rate.

I do not have many pepper plants in the ground yet, but I started them late on purpose since I always run out of space and normally plant most peppers as a succession crop to follow the earlier cool-season crops. I could put more of the pepper plants in the ground now, but they are so happy in the greenhouse that I'm leaving them in there for now, especially since there are so many cool, rainy days in the next week's forecast.

Running is what I am doing too. The garden is on fast forward this year.

I saw my first pea flowers yesterday and so excited. Little man will have something besides pea shoots and carrots to eat.

I suppose this year is a reminder that each gardening year is its own unique self. We almost never get too years in a row that are similar, so the one thing I do know is that no matter what sort of weather/gardening year it is this year, the odds are that next year will be very different.

It is nice (if odd) to have the garden fast-forwarding itself into late spring. I'm hoping the coming flood of rain doesn't mess anything up or slow it down too much because I feel like I have finally adjusted to the breakneck pace that currently is in place. I'm going to pick all the tomatoes today or first thing tomorrow that are breaking color so they won't be exposed to so much rain over the next few days that they crack or split. That's usually a May or June problem, not an April one.

Because I am so caught up on planting, this afternoon is going to be all about weeding, particularly the onion beds. I need to get the little weeds out before the heavy rain in our forecast turns them into big weeds.

I have a feeling little man is going to be in hog heaven from now until your first frost eating all the yummy things from the garden.

Oh he is. Tonight all he wanted was fresh carrots. I tried to get him to eat cooked babies/spinach and he wouldn't have it. He only wants them fresh.

That's so cute. I'm surprised he won't eat them cooked, but at least he is eating his veggies, which some kids his age just won't do without a major battle (well, except for the ever-popular French Fries).

Noone in my family likes cooked greens except my oldest son will eat spinach. He did not care for the giant red mustard greens I cooked last night. I loved them so it was OK I didn't have to share.

Now you sound like me. I am the cooked greens person in this house and it doesn't bother me if no one else wants to eat them. I like them. Tim will eat fresh spinach in a salad more than he'll eat it cooked (though he says it likes it cooked, but I can't help noticing I eat it a lot more than he does). I do think that cooked greens (especially mustard greens) might be an acquired taste that folks don't have if they didn't grow up eating them. I grew up eating spinach, collard greens, mustard greens and turnip treens so I like them all. Tim and Chris....not so much.

Tomorrow I get to start harvesting broccoli heads that, this afternoon in the rain, looked 6-8" across. The most mature one has perhaps lost the tiniest bit of its tightness, so I'll harvest it in the morning or whenever the rain allows. I won't be able to do any real gardening work for a few days because of all the standing water and mud, but I can splash around in the pathways and harvest cool-season crops.

That sounds like fun. The only muddy puddles here are the ones I make. The expected 2"to 8" rain this weekend got reduced to 1/4" thankfully I still have city water lol.

I hate having to use that city water, though I certainly use our share of it when rain isn't falling. There is a point though, in a drought year, where I turn off the hose and just let the garden go---it is hard to do, but you can get to the point in drought years where you're spending more money watering than what you're going to get back in a harvest.

Our rain was spotty and sporadic---some parts of the county (like ours) have received slightly under 2" while others got over 5". We are under a River Flood Warning for a few more days as the runoff from our west and our north drain down into the Red River and eventually cause what is expected to be moderate flooding. Two state highways are shut down due to flooding, and several county rounds, especially in NW Love County are shut down as well. We have water standing everywhere, but especially in the garden pathways. The back garden, with no raised beds, has water standing everywhere, but all I have back there so far is sweet corn and it can handle the standing water for at least a few days.

I'm relieved we haven't received more rain. The images coming out of the Houston area, where upwards of 16-20" of rain has fallen, are just awful. I feel terrible for them and, at the same time, relieved that we are not experiencing the same thing here.

After getting 24" of rain last May (including 12" in one day), I am hoping for no big rainfall like we had last year. Can't we just have a normal spring, with enough rain and yet not too much? Please? Just this once?

I can't believe you are having a problem with broccoli possibly bolting... I don't have a single head amongst my 75 plants. I set them out pretty early. I don't have my log in front of me, but I think it was a soon as possible according to the OSU planting calendar. They weren't the world's largest seedlings. I didn't get them started until 4th week of January. They are growing pretty big, but they are in fierce competition with the Bermuda grass that I just can't get ahead of... Some bug issues... Do you think I should leave them in the garden in they haven't yet formed heads? I have other things that could replace them. I am in Southern OK. Thoughts???

I am no expert and like Dawn says every year is different. Last year I was harvesting broccoli and side shoots into June. My own transplants haven't produced this year but my store bought plants did and still are

Broccoli bolts as a reaction to stress and to certain conditions that make it respond as a biennial responds in its second year. It happens and it is well-documented in horticultural/agricultural literature, and we haven't actually established if her broccoli is bolting or was just showing yellowish-green new growth, as happens with some varieties. We have had weather conditions that have been all over the map, and that differ strongly from one section of the state to another, this year, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if someone's broccoli is bolting. Some years it is more common than others and it often hinges on the inconsistent weather conditions.

If your plants are surrounded by Bermuda grass, the grasslikely is sucking up some of the nutrients and moisture that the plants otherwise would be using. You don't say if you garden organically or if you use chemicals, but my answer would be almost the same either way.

The only real way to deal with bermuda grass in a veggie bed or row is to dig it out, not pull it out. When you dig it out, you're more likely to get all the stolon whereas if you pull it out, the piece you're tugging on is likely to break and leave some of the stolon underground. If you leave just one 1/4" piece of stolon every square yard, the bermuda grass can rebound and take over your entire garden spot in mere weeks. One problem with trying to dig it out around an actively growing crop that should be close to producing its harvest, depending on what variety you planted, is that you could disturb the roots of the desired crop. I dig it out the minute I see it, having learned long ago that if I don't immediately dig it out, it gets ahead of me and I never get ahead of again for the rest of the year.

If the broccoli seems like it is going to produce well despite the bermuda grass and you cannot find the time to dig it out, I'd probably wait it out.....then dig out all the bermuda grass after the broccoli is harvested and before you put in whatever succession crop will follow the broccoli. You sometimes can slow down invasive bermuda grass by putting cardboard on top of it and piling several inches of mulch on top of it to deny it access to light. Then, when runners come out from under the cardboard, dig them up. However, putting down cardboard like this works better in pathways where you aren't trying to work around existing plants.

You also could use an over-the-top herbicide that is registered for use in a vegetable garden, if it is labeled for use around broccoli and whatever else is growing where the over-the-top herbicide would be used. I know that Bonide makes an over-the-top herbicide called Over-the-Top II that can be used to kill grass around some plants, and it is labeled for use around broccoli. However, there's a time limit within which it cannot be used---and for broccoli it is "within 30 days of harvest", so I think it likely is too late to use it in southern OK this season because broccoli should mature here in southern OK in April and May if it was planted at the proper time. Mine is being harvested now from plants that went into the ground approximately two months ago, and they are very large heads. Depending on when you planted your transplants in the ground and on what your variety's average DTM is,

Bermuda is the devil itself to deal with. The only thing that gives me more trouble is Johnson grass, which is like bermuda grass on heavy-duty steroids. Digging both out early, often and every time you see them is the best (and only) non-herbicide way to deal with them.

You also could try any of the organic herbicides like Avenger or Horticultural Vinegar but I don't know if either is strong enough to work on bermuda grass. Roundup would work if sprayed when temperatures are warm enough, but glyphosate drift from spraying it could damage or kill other garden plants (any and all, and especially tomato plants which are hyper-sensitive to both glyphosate and 2-4-D type herbicides).

Oh, and broccoli plants don't need to be (and should not be) big when transplanted into the ground. The ideal size/age for transplanting is roughly when the transplants are 3-5 weeks of age and with 3 to 5 true leaves. Larger plants at transplanting time are more prone to stall and be slow to produce or to bolt.

Hope this helps,

Dawn