This is why you should grow heirlooms. The flavor of Green Sprouting Calabrese Broccoli will make you never buy store-bought again! Plants grow quickly to produce good crops of 4" heads. They then go on to reward the gardener with excellent yields of side shoots well into Autumn. Calabrese maturity time is not uniform, resulting in an extended harvest for home vegetable gardens. This richly flavored open-pollinated broccoli variety is very popular with home vegetable gardeners!
Though heirloom Calabrese broccoli comes from the province of Calabria in Italy and arrived in America in the 1880s, the plant from which modern broccoli is derived first grew in the wild in the Mediterranean region and in Asia Minor. Broccoli gradually spread to the rest of Europe and to the New World, where Thomas Jefferson included this strange new vegetable in his experimental garden. The Italians appreciated it so much that it got the name "Italian asparagus." After World War I, Italian brothers Stefano and Andrea D'Arrigo brought their Sicilian variety of broccoli and began growing it in San Jose, California; they later shipped it to Boston's North End, where it established a quickly expanding market.
~ planting ~
When to sow outside: RECOMMENDED. 4 to 6 weeks before average last frost or as soon as soil can be worked. Also, in late summer for fall harvest. In mild winter climates, can be sown in late fall for winter, early spring harvest. When to start inside: 4 to 6 weeks before average last frost.
~ harvesting ~
When the main head gets to 5"-6” in diameter, harvest the head. This will encourage large numbers of side florets.
