Digging Deep For Broccoli

My Broccoli Experiment

Potted Broccoli Seedling

I have now planted my 3rd succession of Broccoli seedlings that I have germinated from seed. This time I decided to plant them deeper than before as a result of watching one of the experts on Gardening Australia doing that with some seedlings and also some small shrubs and trees. I was also inspired to do that after watching Chuck do that with his tomato seedlings in his Tomatoes For Health and Wealth DVD.

These seedlings have been nurtured by potting them into larger pots and keeping them my mini greenhouse over the colder days, before preparing to plant them out.



In The Ground



The soil was prepared by adding compost and some manure. A hole deep enough to take the plant so that all of the base of the stem, up to first leaves, was then dug. After the seedling was taken from the pot, I placed it in the hole to check that it would at the right height, and backfilled the hole with soil.



All Mulched Up and Ready To Grow



Finally some mulch was added to help maintain moisture around the root system, and the plants were watered in. At the moment the seedlings look a bit overwhelmed sitting in their mulch, but it should not take long before they dominate the patch where they sit.

It will be interesting to watch and monitor this group of brocccoli plants to see if they benefit from the deeper planting.

The Broccoli plants that I first panted has now finished producing their heads, and are flowering with cute yellow flowers that are attracting the bees, The bees are then moving on to the broad beans to help fertilise them, so the first crop of broad beans is not far away.

And that is just touching the surface of what is happening in the garden right now! 

Getting The Dirt On Compost

One of the first things that I did when moving into my new house in January was to set up a compost heap.

We have the luxury of having plenty of space to set up fo making compost, and there were also some materials that were left in the yard that can be used for making the heap. However the first compost heap used a part of the cardboard box that our new refrigerator was packed in.

I simply cut down a part of the box, removed the base and located it directly on the soil in a suitable place in the yard, and started adding kitchen scraps, weeds, straw and soil.

After a few weeks the box in the yard that heap was ready for setting aside to brew.

Version 2 of my compost heap was then set up. It was made from sheets of roofing iron held in place by metal stakes. It too was established directly on the soil. When it too was ready for leaving to stand and brew, I simply built alongside this heap to start another.

I have been able to use the compost made in these heaps to help with soil structure and to give transplanted plants a good start to their new life in their new homes.

It has been amazing to see how many worms have found the compost heaps and how busy they have been helping to break down the scraps to become a sweet smelling and friable compost. 

There are several parts of the yard that could benefit from having compost added to help with establishing and maintaining the vegetables and flowers.