So, let’s be honest…my broccoli plants did NOT do well last year. As I’ve explained in my homesteading story, my garden was maybe half as successful as I would have liked it to have been. But, I digress…

Broccoli is a good cool-weather crop, so it helped ease my gardening bug a bit to get it into my garden and planning is everything. So, I have made better plans for my garden this year.

My mother-in-law has been growing broccoli pretty successfully for years now and I am taking a cue from her. So, here’s what I’m doing this year…

I found a spot in my garden that is shaded some in the morning but gets plenty of sun as the day goes on. I tilled (adding in some garden soil and compost) this year, since I moved my garden in hopes of a more bountiful harvest. This also should help with the drainage since our ground can be wet.

Before planting my seedlings, I took them out of their containers and wrapped them with…wait for it…FOIL! Yes, I mean aluminum foil! My mother-in-law does it to help keep these nasty things away…

They’re called cabbage root worms and they will kill your plant.

I pinch the very bottom couple of leaves off of the seedling and wrap a bit of the stem and try to leave a collar at the base to keep these pesky worms from ruining my broccoli harvest. Old Farmer’s Almanac also says you can use cardboard collars to do the same. I like the idea of the foil because it covers some of the stem as well.

I spaced my plants about 18 inches apart and rows about 12 inches apart. I planted three rows of six plants, made a two foot walkway and planted another three rows. Yes, I broke out the measuring tape and even a rope line to try to keep things straight and even…

When planting, it is also a good idea to add compost or manure to each plant. Once my seedlings were planted, I surrounded them with newspaper, three layers thick and straw mulch. This will help keep the ground cool and moist. Here’s how it looked when I was finished…

Once the plant has a good stalk, the foil can be removed.

Happy planting! Let me know how you do your broccoli!