Organic Broccoli Seeds - Calabrese

This healthy and vibrant late summer early autumn vegetable is high yielding and a pleasure to grow. Tasty and nutritious, Organic Broccoli Calabrese provides a long harvest of thick heads followed by a great crop of tender side shoots which if picked regularly will  see you through to the late Autumn. Delicious in stir fry's, roasted or as a perfect accompaniment to any Autumn meal. Extremely nutritious, Organic Calabrese Broccoli is packed with carotenoids, folic acid and vitamins A and C.

Broccoli Calabrese is a no fuss and easily grown cultivar which is incredibly rewarding. Tight and tasty green heads are produced throughout summer and  autumn giving you a continuous supply of this delicious superfood. Head size is determined by spacing so to impress your neighbours space seedlings around 60cms apart over the more common 40cm centres.

• Pack size: 150 seeds
• Time to germination: 5 - 10 days
• When to sow: March - June
• Spacing: 40 - 60cm
• Soil preference: Rich, well-drained
• Light preference: Full sun
• When to harvest: July - November

How to grow Organic Broccoli from seed

Sow seeds between 1 and 1.5cm deep in biodegradable pots made from thin-wall coco fibre between late March and June and plant out four weeks later pot and all. We recommend sowing in our bio pots as broccoli does not like to be transplanted as suffers transplant shock. By sowing a few plants in late march, early May and again in Early June you can ensure a continual harvest of tasty heads. Broccoli Calabrese benefits from a sheltered position in full sun.

Should your Broccoli seedlings become leggy due to insufficient light, plant them out at a depth just below the second set of leaves. This will also help your plants establish a large root system.

What to feed your broccoli calabrese plants

Organic Calabrese Broccoli has a long growing season and should be planted in firm fertile soil. Amend the area before transplanting with a good mix of rotten farmyard manure, fish, blood and bone meal with some volcanic rock dust and kelp powder to give them a rich, balanced and diverse diet that will be released over the season for strong organic growth.

Stronger, healthier plants are also less attractive to attacking insects.

Keeping pests away

Broccoli can be affected by clubroot, aphids, downy mildew, and cabbage root fly. By practising good hygiene and airflow around the plant, leaving a low layer of weeds to grow around the stem to deter root fly, and interplanting with flowers or other species, these vectors are minimised, and you should have no problems growing this wonderful veg.

When ordering Organic Broccoli Calabrese seeds from Grow Sow Greener, we reccomend sowing marigold seeds. A beautiful plant in its own right, plant marigolds close by to deter nematodes and attract beneficial insects that prey on pests while boosting pollination for your other fruit and veg.