Guide to Growing Broccoli in the Lowveld

Table of Contents

This delicious plant is a winter staple in my garden. It is so easy to grow, it loves the winter Lowveld weather and depending on the variety you grow, it will give you at least 4 heads before the end of the season.

Broccoli is for the most part a winter crop no matter where you grow it in South Africa. This is why you will find that broccoli heads cost a whole lot more if you want to buy them in the summer months. Those who attempt to grow broccoli in summer are the kind of risk taking heroes I love, mostly because the worm and/or aphid war that they must be waging to get that plant to its beautiful maturity is no easy feat. Humidity and heat make broccoli an easy target for bugs, and believe me, trying to painstakingly pull aphids from between broccoli florets is just not worth your frustration.

Unlike most veggie plants you can grow in your home garden, you won’t find a traditional heirloom broccoli variety, because this specific type of plant is a manmade hybrid. Some very clever people, knowingly or unknowingly, combined the best of cauliflower, mustard and some other landrace brassicas from the ancient Roman Empire to create the vegetable that children hate and adults learn to love later in life (and then wonder just why on earth they didn’t take to eating broccoli sooner!).

It is safe to say that the broccoli plant, being almost 2000 years old, is one of the first examples of gardeners doing awesome things, so if you are a history buff, this plant is a must grow.

And believe me, when your first broccoli head forms, it is the best feeling.

Types of Broccoli

Although you do get some pretty varieties, the most common broccoli plant is going to be your conventional F1 hybrid Broccoli. It’s green and gorgeous, it tastes nutty and amazing, and the plant will keep giving you heads, although they will get smaller as the energy in the plant starts to fade.

I grow Marathon Broccoli because it fits neatly into my smaller growing space. I normally grow between 4 and 8 plants, and they feed us fresh broccoli all winter, with enough left over to blanche and freeze for later use. This variety of broccoli grows a single big typical broccoli head, and after the head is harvested, 3 or 4 smaller heads will grow out of the sides. These heads are not going to be as large as the first one, but they make for a delicious meal.

Although the Marathon Broccoli is an exceptionally tasty and easy plant to grow, there are quite a few other varieties to choose from.

If what you are looking for is a well-performing green broccoli you can consider Green Sprouting Calabrese Broccoli, Brassica Oleracea, or Parthenon (similar to Marathon). Most of these varieties are fairly basic broccolis and most are disease resistant.

Aside from these standard types, you can also find a few varieties that are both interesting and quite beautiful.

The Romanesco Broccoli has the most unusual geometric heads, which makes it a stunning ornamental plant as well as something scrumptious to add to the dinner plate. Then you get the purple broccoli which looks rather psychedelic although when cooked it will turn green, and Broccoli Raap Spring Rapini, which is like a baby broccoli except you can cook the whole plant.

Sowing

Broccoli are winter plants here in the Lowveld so sowing can start in March and continue on until June. This means you have to plan your sowing down to the final hot day of the season, or you run the risk of having your adorable little baby broccoli munched up by a grasshopper or completely frizzled and burned by the intense sun.

Broccoli seeds are easy to handle, as they are not too small, and planting them is as easy as making a tiny indentation in your seed pot, dropping the seed and closing. The seed tray or pot that you use should be kept in a warm position, but don’t give it 8 hours of sun because the seeds need to be kept moist for even germination and even autumn sunlight can quickly dry out the soil. I would suggest adding a little bit of palm peat to your seed starting mix, if you are making your own mix. This will ensure that the seed gets consistent moisture as the palm peat holds water content well.

I don’t direct sow broccoli seeds, in fact I have never even tried. I only ever start in trays and then once the broccoli has at least 4 leaves, I transplant the seedling to a bigger space, generally a small pot or a plant box that I have prepared with a bit of compost, soil and plant food.

A few years back I made a mistake when I thought I’d get a head start on my broccoli, and be able to harvest sooner and more, if I planted the seeds in January. I ended up fighting off all sorts of pests and losing the battle. I had the worst broccoli season and was bitterly disappointed, as this is one plant I love to grow.

Now I stick to planting seeds once the worst of the summer heat has passed. I will usually sow towards the middle of March, but I have planted much later, in June, and still had a fabulous harvest. Keep a close eye on the weather and make sure that if the heat does make a sudden return, as it sometimes does, that you shade your seed or seedlings.

Growing

Usually, broccoli takes between 2 to 3 months to start maturing, and during that time you need to make sure that they are given lots of winter sunlight and watered when the soil starts looking dehydrated.

Broccoli plants need minimal care, and they can benefit from a bi-weekly or monthly dose of plant food. I use Nutrifeed or a banana tea.

As the plants grow, they get quite large so don’t plant them too close together. Space your plants about 30 to 50 centimeters apart. The plants get large leaves and when the heads start to form, the plant stretches out quite a bit on the top.

Harvesting

It is time to cut the broccoli head when the head has turned a deep green, and the buds are tightly packed together. The window between a head being delicious and a head being tough and a bit sour is very small. If you see the head starting to turn yellow, the buds coming apart or the shoots starting to elongate, harvest immediately.

Once you have taken the first head off, don’t pull the plant. In a couple of days you will see that the plant will start to develop side shoots, and although the heads will be smaller, you could get another 4 harvests.

When the plant stops producing, it will stay green and then when the days heat up, it will start to die. You can cut the plant back when you think it has given all it can, or you can cut it down to its base and let it compost itself into the soil.

Pests

Aphids. I hate aphids. With just a little bit of heat and humidity in the air, aphids will ruin your day by appearing from nowhere and settle into a broccoli head and the underside of leaves to such an extent that the harvest is ruined. Minimise the risk of aphids by planting a nasturtium plant or some dwarf marigolds nearby. If you notice the plant has aphids, spray it with Organicide (an organic pesticide which is a combination of canola oil, garlic extract and some other groovy stuff) or something similar.

Worms are another issue I’ve personally dealt with and they can quite literally demolish a plant over night by stripping off the leaves. This will completely set back the growth of the plant and delay the harvest. Look out for evil cabbage worms, cutworms, cabbage loopers, and cabbage webworms, they are hard to miss.

Powdery mildew is also something that can affect broccoli, but I’ve not had the displeasure here in the Lowveld. If you are concerned about this, make sure that you only ever water the base of the plant.

What to do with your harvest

Broccoli can be used in a number of ways. Here’s how I like to eat it:

Add it to stew or to a curry. Ideally, you should flash fry it first so that it doesn’t just go to mush.
Make a broccoli salad. Quickly fry a chopped up onion in butter or olive oil, add chopped up broccoli and let it cook until tender. Let it cool down before, and while you wait, dice some cheddar cheese. Now mix it all together with a little mayonnaise. You can also fry some diced bacon and add it….I’m not drooling, you are.
Bake it. A baked head of broccoli smothered in cheese makes for one scrumptious winter dinner.
Add it to a potato soup. Same as above, cut it up into small chunks and fry it in butter before adding it to the soup and letting it cook a little before serving with a warm ciabatta bread.