We planted Broccoli Round 2 over the weekend. The first round was transplanted in a high tunnel, under landscape fabric in early spring, and annihilated by very precise voles in a timely fashion. It’s getting too warm to put broccoli under a tunnel now, so it’s in outdoor beds, with no landscape fabric. We didn’t want to risk it. We’ll experiment with when and where to use fabric all season, and let you know what worked and what was a critter salad bar. Early spring in a tunnel is a definite no-no.

For this planting, we did two 125-foot beds of broccoli, each with two rows. So 500 feet total. While the fabric and voles led to strings of curse words and deeply-hurt feelings, the straw has been fantastic for weed control. It’s so worth the time it takes to spread around each plant.

This is our first season growing broccoli with the deer fence, and that’s very exciting. It feels tucked in safe from rabbits and chuckies with the straw, and we’ve kept the water on it. If it can just get a few inches taller it should be in the clear. Grow, broccoli, grow!

~ Stella