Sowing Best season to sow your Broccoli seeds is monsoon and summer. Take a seedling tray with medium sized cells & proper drainage holes at the bottom. Fill the cells/cups with a moist coco-peat medium. Sow 2/3 broccoli seeds per cell/cup. Broccoli seeds are very small in size. Do not sow them in too deep. Place your seeds on the surface of the medium and use the inside with the tip of a pencil and cover the surface with coco peat ensuring that the seeds are covered. Alternately, you can also make shallow depressions in the medium using the back of a pencil and put your seeds inside these depressions and cover them up with coco peat. Keep the seedling tray indoors till the seeds germinate. For the first week, water the seeds two tablespoons of water every day. Or keep the seed tray in another tray full of water for half an hour so that the water will be absorbed by the seed cells from the bottom, via drainage holes. Outdoors, make sure that you protect your seed beds from direct sunlight and rainfall. Cover your seed bed by making a temporary roof of a plastic sheet. Water it in the form of a light shower using a watering can. Caring You will notice that your broccoli seeds will start germinating within the first 6 - 8 days. Tiny sprouts will be visible at this point. Once your seeds have germinated, place your tray in a partially sunny spot, like near a window. After the second week, keep only single seedling per cell/cup. Cut off the weak, small & lagging seedlings with a pair of scissors. 30-35 days after sowing, your seedlings will now be ready for transplantation. To transplant your seedlings choose a container which is minimum 8 inches deep and has a bigger spread area like big trays or crates. Ideal planting mixture for Broccoli is2 part garden soil & 1 part organic manure OR 1 part Garden Soil, 1 part Coco Peat & 1 part Vermicompost. transplant seedlings along with the root ball of a medium without disturbing the roots. In winters Broccoli prefers full sunlight. So place your containers accordingly. In winters water your plane every alternate day. Use a watering can to ensure that your plant gets watered with an even shower. You can also make provision for watering by drip irrigation system for your raised beds. Make sure that you are not overwatering your plant. After transplantation, apply balanced liquid fertilizer or handful of vermicompost to each plant, every 15 days. Your Broccoli heads will be ready for harvest 90 - 110 days after sowing the seed.
