The Broccoli Saga

Last Thursday, I noticed that one of the broccoli seedlings (see April 15th) seemed to be starting to bloom, but I was too busy packing for an SCA event to do anything about it. That evening, Thing Two was doing donuts at 30 MPH in the front yard, and kicked up that very seedling. So I trimmed off the blossoms and ate the broccoli-looking parts with lunch on Friday. Some of the other seedlings looked like they were thinking about blooming, but I was (again) too busy packing for an SCA event to do anything about it. We came back from the event on Monday afternoon, and (no big surprise for the gardeners out there) almost all of the broccoli seedlings were in full bloom. And the ones that aren't in bloom don't have much stalk yet, much less enough head to eat. (Come to think of it, even the ones that are in bloom don't have much stalk or head!) I've never grown broccoli before: is there a trick to getting a substantial head before they bloom?

So now we have a front yard bordered with pretty, cruciferous yellow flowers, and no broccoli to eat. At least they haven't died, which would be demoralizing.