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You are here: Home / Home and Garden / Gardening / Easy Tips for Growing and Cooking Broccoli

Gardening Home and Garden
Published: August 25, 2015 | Last Updated: April 2, 2019 | Author: Lois

Easy Tips for Growing and Cooking Broccoli

Easy tips on growing broccoli in your garden this year and an easy recipe for your family to enjoy broccoli fresh from your garden. 

Stalk of broccoli from the WOS Garden ready to be harvested.

Do you love fresh broccoli? Growing up broccoli was one vegetable I never, ever ate.  I wouldn’t even touch it.  My mother even knew not to ask if I wanted any.  I just never cared for the taste.

Well, that’s not the case anymore! Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables.  We have it a few times a week as a side dish for dinner.  And I’m happy to say that my children also enjoy broccoli.

Broccoli is a sun-loving vegetable that is best grown in the spring or fall. We’ve never grown it in the fall, only the spring. 

Broccoli is rich in vitamins and minerals, and is a good source of Vitamin A, potassium, folic acid, iron, and fiber. Because of this, broccoli has been dubbed the “crown jewel of nutrition.”

Tips for Growing Broccoli

Today I’m sharing with you today a few more photos of our garden along with tips on growing broccoli in your garden.  I’m also sharing with you a very easy recipe for broccoli.  Broccoli doesn’t need a fancy cheese sauce to make it delicious.  We enjoyed our very first home-grown broccoli for dinner last night and it was delicious just steamed with a little butter.

When to Plant Broccoli

  • Broccoli is not very hard to grow at all.
  • You can either start the seeds indoors or you can plant the seeds directly into the ground in your garden, which is what we did.
  • Broccoli can tolerate light frost, so you don’t have to wait too long to start planting. 
  • You can plant broccoli in the early spring for a first harvest and then again in the late summer for a harvest in the fall. 

How far to Space Broccoli Plants

  • Make sure you space the seeds/plants at least 18 inches apart. 
  • The plant grows very large and you do not want to overcrowd them.

How Much Should you Water and Fertilize Broccoli

  • Broccoli grows very fast so you will need to fertilize the young plants.
  • Also, make sure you keep the soil moist. 
  • Give the broccoli plants at least an inch of water every week. 
  • Try to water the plants deeply at the root and not just sprinkle them.

How to Harvest Broccoli

  • This was the first one we harvested just the other day.  
  • We heard from quite a few people to soak the broccoli heads in water before bringing them into the house just in case there were worms inside. 
  • We did that and I’m happy to report, no worms at all.  

We didn’t even see worms when we harvested the broccoli, but we weren’t taking any chances, so we soaked the heads in a bucket of water.

Stalk of broccoli growing in the garden.

Our harvest from the other day.  Broccoli, tomatoes, green peppers and sugar snap peas.

Basket of Broccoli, tomatoes and peppers from the WOS Garden

How to Cook Broccoli

The fifth and final tip for broccoli is an easy recipe for how to prepare. 

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil. 
  • Add the broccoli to the boiling water and allow to cook for about 4 to 5 minutes. It will only take a few minutes for the stalks to become tender.
  • Drain the broccoli in a colander in the sink.
  • Place the pot back on the stove top and over a medium flame, melt a tablespoon or two of butter. 
  • Once the butter is melted, turn off the flame. 
  • Add the broccoli back to the pan and season with salt and pepper. 
  • Keep covered until ready to serve. 

Very first broccoli from the garden this year. Amazingly delicious.

A few more photos from our garden

Eggplant – I can’t tell you how amazing eggplant fresh from the garden tastes!

My sunflowers are doing amazing this year.

My other favorite flower to grow in our garden is zinnias.  They’re so easy!  Just plant the seeds and watch them grow.  They make beautiful arrangements.

Here’s a closeup.

More Beautiful Gardening Tips and Ideas: 

  • How to Grow Hostas
  • Tips on Growing Tomatoes
  • Mistakes to Avoid when Growing Tomatoes in Containers
  • Tips on Growing Sunflowers in  your Garden
  • Outdoor Gardening Inspiration

Tips on growing broccoli in your backyard vegetable garden.

This post contains affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but I earn a commission when you shop through them.  For more information, click here.

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3 Comments

About Lois

Originally from Queens, NY, Lois now calls northeastern PA home. You can find her blogging over at Walking on Sunshine where she shares a little of her life, but more importantly what’s for dinner at her house tonight.

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Comments

  1. Marie says

    May 12, 2019 at 10:40 am

    Thank you for sharing your very helpful tips on growing broccoli at the Talk Of The Town Party! I’ve never had success growing it here in the Canadian prairies but I know others that have. I’ll be referring to this post to try another attempt. Pinned 🙂

    Reply
  2. Donna Reidland says

    May 10, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    I’ll have to share this with my mom. She is the vegetable grower in the family. But I love your zinnias. They are my new favorite flower. I love that they stay colorful for so long. Here in the Southwest well into fall.

    Reply
    • Lois says

      May 10, 2019 at 3:25 pm

      Zinnias are my favorite flower to grow. They just keep coming back even after you cut them to use in mason jars! Thanks for visiting!

      Reply

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