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Broccoli growing in containers guide and tips at home in USA

Broccoli is one of the most popular vegetables in the entire USA. I know many people want to grow Broccoli in their garden but they don't know the right method and right time to grow it. 

Difficulty wise I'll say it is not too difficult to grow if you have the proper knowledge and have some experience of gardening even at least of growing a few plants. 

Here, I'll try to guide you at the beginner level so that you can easily understand the difficulties and the right method of growing Broccoli at home.

Growing broccoli in containers at home in the USA

In wide containers, broccoli grows easily but without proper care and regulations, you can't grow them well even if you are an intermediate gardener. 

Growing broccoli at home garden in usa

Let me give you a brief on difficulties and their level for beginners first and then we'll move on further.

Season of growing Broccoli

Broccoli can grow in moderate climate conditions easily. Fall and spring are the best time to sow the seeds. As these are seasonal vegetables, they shouldn't face the peak of summer or winter mostly or it will directly make an impact on them. 

In spring, you can start sowing broccoli seeds from the first week of spring, and in fall, make it as soon as possible in the early weeks.

Difficulties while growing Broccoli

It is not difficult for intermediate gardeners to grow broccoli at home in containers. But still, beginners do some basic mistakes while growing it. Let's take a look at the basic mistakes and difficulties-

  • Selection of pots 

While selecting pots, this is a very common mistake they choose containers without drainage holes. This causes their soil gets compacted and affects the overall plant growth. Sometimes they choose the wrong size and heavy containers that are not easy to shift or move.

  • Careless while transplantation 

A single mistake while transplantation can damage the plants and it is very common among beginners. Often they break the plants unknowingly.

  • Wrong time fertilization 

Using fertilizers or compost at the wrong time is not going to help or boost your plant growth. For season plants, fertilization should be done once or twice but at the right time.

  • Weeds

Ignoring weeds in broccoli containers may be a big mistake. Also, letting weeds grow affects the overall growth of broccoli and slows down the growth rate. 

Requirements to grow Broccoli 

  • Soil type- Rich garden soil that can't get compacted easily, well-drained
  • Sunlight- 6 to 8 hours of straight sunlight 
  • Irrigation- Regular, once in three days or when the soil gets dry

Materials required

  • Organic compost or vermicompost
  • Sand 
  • Garden soil

Tools required

  • Cultivators
  • Harvesting knife or scissors
  • Trimmers
  • Spraying bottles

Selection of containers

Choosing the right containers is a minor problem but can be a bigger mistake till harvesting. For sowing seeds, you can take small nursery cups for germination. 

For that, you need 4x5 square inches wide and deep cups that you can get online or market very easily. 

For transplantation, you need bigger containers 15 inches wide and 12 to 15 inches deep. The material of broccoli containers should be lightweight and strong enough while shifting.

Method of growing Broccoli 

  • Preparing soil

To prepare good drained rich soil, you need to mix several organic components into the garden soil. Using a soil mixture is far better than growing it in direct garden soil. Take a ratio of 2:1:1 of garden soil, organic compost, and sand. Mix it well with some moisture. 

Initially, you need only a few soil mixtures so you can fill the small nursery cups to germinate the seeds. So don't prepare the whole mixture first. Wait for germination and then go further. 

So fill it in the nursery pots first, and after germination, prepare a fresh and new soil mixture with a ratio of 2:2:1 of garden soil, compost, and sand according to the size of your containers. 

  • Sowing broccoli seeds

Check the nursery cups' soil moisture once again. After confirming, use soaked Broccoli seeds. Sow the seeds just a few centimeters in the soil. Wait for at least one to two weeks for seed germination.

  • Seed germination 

It will hardly take a week to two to germinate broccoli seeds. Let these seeds grow further in the same cups till they become 3 to 4 inches tall. Now, you can transplant them into bigger pots for further growth.

  • Transplantation

Prepare a new soil mixture for bigger pots. Take the containers as I suggested earlier in this blog. Fill it in the pots. Now make a dig of 4 to 5 inches for broccoli plants in each container.  

Soil gets compacted in nursery pots, so it increases the chances of damaging plants. To avoid that, wet the soil first. Don't force the plant too much until the soil becomes loose with wetness. 

Now, transplant the small broccoli plants into new containers and cover them with the same soil mixture. Keep them in bright sunlight for better growth. But avoid partial shade.

  • Further irrigation 

Once your plants get settled in the soil, you can irrigate them regularly. It depends on the overall soil moisture. Because you harvest broccoli in a season, so irrigation should be regular for plants. Keep it in every two days as much as the plant need. You can irrigate daily if the temperature is too hot and the soil is getting dry fast.

  • Fertilization 

Generally, we don't fertilize seasonal plants once or twice. But if you didn't mix the compost initially, you can start composting in each container after a few days of transplantation.

  • Weeds removal

Remove the weeds as much as you see from time to time. Generally, weeds appear every 10 to 15 days while growing in big containers. Even though you remove them, they appear again. Be careful, don't use weed killers but remove them manually.

  • Broccoli appearance 

Broccoli starts to grow with stalk after 35 to 40 days of sowing. It starts growing further in the next 30 to 40 more days. So, broccoli takes only 65 to 90 days maximum to mature. You are going to get one large-sized broccoli from one plant. So don't worry about more harvesting from a single plant. 

You can do some smart tricks to increase the size of your broccoli. Just remove the new leaves growing. Thus, the plant will shift its focus to broccoli production mostly.

How to harvest Broccoli?

Use a harvesting knife or cutter to harvest broccoli. Cut the broccoli with its stem and stalk. Harvest clean. 

The best time to harvest vegetables like broccoli is doing it in the morning time or when the temperature remains cool. If conditions are overcast then you can harvest during the afternoon as well.

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