Broccoli – De Cicco

Sown from March to June for heads in Summer or Autumn, sowings in June should make heads by October. These seeds are perfect for sowing in seed trays, filled with compost, sow a group of seeds on the surface and then cover with a light sprinkling of compost.

One of the best of the old-fashioned Italian broccolis, this Italian heirloom variety is suitable for fall and spring sowing. De Ciccio is a compact plant and very productive producing an early central blue-green head, followed by numerous side shoots into early summer. We recommend you harvest the main head when it is 3″ in diameter – this will encourage more side shoots. The leaves can also be used as spring greens. When they have two leaves and you can handle the germinated seeds, prick out individually into modules to grow on or sow a few seeds per module then thin to the strongest seedling.

Planting will be approx. 4 weeks from sowing, early plants will benefit with a fleece or mesh cover and should produce heads for June eating, space them about 40cm apart as they get quite large leaves. With all brassicas you need to protect them against butterflies and their caterpillars so use mesh to cover them, I also spray with Bacillus Thuringiensis every 3 weeks from late June/early July when I remove the mesh covers. When they get tall they will need staking for support especially if in a windy area.