How to Grow Broccoli Rabe

How to grow broccoli rabe: Here in the US they use the name broccoli rabe (or raab) for a vegetable commonly grown in the Mediterranean and Asia. It’s also known as rapini, broccoletti or broccoletti. It belongs to the cabbage family of broccoli, collards, kale and the like. You can eat the leaves, buds and stems raw or cooked.

How to grow broccoli rabe

• A fast growing, cool season biennial that is grown as an annual vegetable, broccoli rabe does best in early spring or fall.
• They can easily be mistaken in flavor for turnip greens, especially in the fall. Also, the actual bud developed on broccoli rabe is small compared to the regular broccoli head, and it has a slightly bitter flavor.
• Broccoli rabe requires full sun but will tolerate some light shade; however, with shade, the development will be slow and will take longer to reach maturity.
• It is a good feeder, so adding a good amount of compost and keeping the pH around 6.5 is best.
• You can direct seed once the ground can be worked and the soil reaches around 45°F all the way into late summer.
• They are fast in their germination rate – usually four to seven days.
• They do tolerate frost, and therefore can be planted around the same time as your peas.
• If you get a high germination rate, transplant some of these seedlings to a different location or establish another bed.  The plants get to be around a foot to a foot-and-a-half tall.
• Start the fall crop by direct seeding in the mid to late summer. Flavor does improve with the cooler weather and the leaves are sweeter, tasting just like the turnip greens.

To grow other members of this family Growing broccoli

Harvesting

You can start harvesting the outer leaves as greens as soon as you like, ideally when the leaves reach around four to six inches long. Remember is to leave the center bud intact so the plant can continue to send new leaves. Harvest these until the plant goes into flowering.  At that time, harvest the whole plant before the buds open. The leaves are medium green and can bloom anytime from early summer to mid-fall, depending on the variety. The color of the flower if allowed to develop, is yellow.

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Controlling Insects

As soon as they come up, I would place a cloth row cover, as they are susceptible to a number of insects, just like the broccoli, cabbage, kale and the rest of the family.  Once the temperatures get real hot, the cloth cover needs to be removed. See my YouTube video on covers https://youtu.be/9oTe4W-IY4g

The most common pests are cabbage worms – handpicking being the best method of control. Cabbage root maggots feeding on the roots will cause death later on to the plants. Cabbage aphids – using water to wash off and pinching goes a long way. Flea beetles become a real problem as it gets warmer.

Some diseases that impact this type of plant are club root, leaf spot, white rust and bacterial rots.  It’s important to follow a three year rotation and have well drained soil.