I grow a lot of broccoli for at farmers markets. I was interested in this Emerald Giant to try but when I looked it up I found it's a Burpee variety. I couldn't find any source that sells larger amounts of seed, even Burpee's parent company Ball Seed. Oh well.
For my area, here in the mid west, I like Packman as my first early broccoli. I can also succession plant it all season for 3 or 4 plantings. It doesn't make the heaviest heads, but they are large and don't tend to bolt like most of the varieties sold at the garden centers here. Premium Crop is a known name but does horrible around here. Packman will also produce a boatload of side shoots. In spring and summer they will be medium to small but in fall they will be quite decent sized.
I do have several other varieties that produce heavier main heads and decent side shoots too but aren't quite as dependable.
One other thing about broccoli in general -- if you have any Boron deficiency, you will have problems growing good broccoli. We have been adding Boron with our pre-plant fertilizer the last several years and it has made quite a difference in the quality of the heads. I'm not certain, but it also seems like Boron is rather like Calcium in that it isn't available to the plants during droughty conditions. But it is easily sprayed on the plants with a hand sprayer and can be mixed with BT when you spray for loopers. And better heads will show up in about a week to 10 days in my experience. While we use a commercial product for farmers, the home grower can use Borax. Signs of deficiency include hollow stem, especially if it has brown along the inside margin. Weird uneven heads is another sign of Boron deficiency. Of the varieties I grow, Packman is the most tolerant of Boron issues (shows bad heads the least).
Carol
|