Growing broccolini (The broccolini planted in September is ready to harvest) – Broccolini culture
Growing broccolini in pesticide free farming. This time, it’s the harvest of the broccolini planted in September.
Summary of broccolini cultivation：soil preparation and planting seedlings (How to grow broccolini)
Broccolini is planted around early September, and it is grown until around early March of the following year. If you plant broccolini late, problems like slow flower buds or a smaller harvest can happen, so be careful. The best time to prepare the soil for broccolini is around early August.
https://www.vege-try.net/en/prepare-field-for-cabbage-lettuc...Broccolini is a vegetable with a longer growing period compared to other autumn and winter vegetables like lettuce and cabbage. (The growing period for broccolini is about 6 months.) So, you might think it’s okay to plant it a little late.
If you plant broccolini after the weather gets cooler, the plants won’t grow big enough, and the harvest will be smaller. (Vegetables are more sensitive to temperature changes than people.) To get a good harvest of broccolini, you need to prepare the soil while it’s still warm at the end of summer.
I planted broccolini in early September. I planted it at the same time as lettuce and cabbage. If you plant broccolini by mid-September, the whole plant will grow well.
Summary of broccolini cultivation：Side dressing for broccolini (Adding fertilizer to the broccolini)
About three weeks after planting, in late September, I added fertilizer to the broccolini. For vegetables grown from seedlings, not just broccolini, the general timing for adding fertilizer is about 3 to 4 weeks after planting.
Make sure to use the right amount of fertilizer for side dressing. For broccolini, it’s 20g (0.7 oz) of chicken manure per spot. If you want to harvest a lot of broccolini, you might want to add more fertilizer, but that’s a no-no. Using too much fertilizer can attract pests and increase the risk of poor plant growth.
About one month after the first side dressing, in late October, I pinched the tips of the broccolini. Pinching means stopping the growing tip. For broccolini, you pinch off the main flower bud.
When you pinch the tips and remove the growing point of the broccolini, the plant stops growing taller. However, since plants need to grow and produce seeds, the broccolini will start to grow many side shoots. Broccolini is a vegetable where you harvest the side shoots, so if you want to increase the harvest, pinching is a must.
Pinching the broccolini to increase the side shoots means the plant will need more nutrients. So, at the time of pinching, I also did the second side dressing.
Summary of broccolini cultivation：Broccolini harvest (How to harvest broccolini)
In late November, it’s time to harvest broccolini. It depends on the weather that year, but after pinching, it can take quite a few days for the side shoots of broccolini to appear. You might worry that the flower buds aren’t coming, but be patient and wait.
The harvest time is when the side shoots of broccolini grow to about 10–13cm (3.9-5.1 inches). If you want to harvest the biggest flower buds, you can wait a bit longer, but make sure to harvest before they bloom. (Once broccolini blooms, it becomes more bitter and tough.)
The method for harvesting broccolini is to cut the side flower buds with the stems. If the side shoots are around 10–13cm (3.9-5.1 inches), the stems won’t be too hard, so you can boil and eat them with the stems.
The harvest season for broccolini lasts until around March next year. Even after you harvest the side shoots, new ones will grow, so keep picking them.
After this, fertilizer is usually not needed, but you can add it if the plants are not growing well. This finishes the harvest work for broccolini.
Following is the video for how-to. English subtitles are available.