{"id":920,"date":"2013-05-18T15:43:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-18T15:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ranchodelicioso.com\/?p=920"},"modified":"2014-12-29T20:22:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-29T20:22:02","slug":"broccoli-we-have-done-the-impossible-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ranchodelicioso.com\/?p=920","title":{"rendered":"Broccoli! We have done the “impossible” once again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20130518-093723.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They said it couldn’t be done, but our meter-high broccoli plants are proving them wrong.<\/p>\n

We have a couple dozen growing in various spots around the farm, and at this moment, two of them are sprouting broccoli heads, which are expanding daily.<\/p>\n

How to Grow Broccoli in the Tropics<\/h2>\n

 
\nWe’re located in the Southern Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, which is a tropical zone, although the forest here is slightly drier than a true rainforest climate. Still, it’s very hot and humid most of the time. We’ve got lots of ravenous bugs and critters to deal with, intense sun, rain, and wind.<\/p>\n

If you read about broccoli on the internet, you’ll hear that it’s a cold weather plant that doesn’t grow well in the tropics, or if it does grow, it won’t produce the broccoli heads that we want. I like a challenge, so I thought that at the very worst, we’d be able to eat the leaves if we could get it to sprout and grow, since our Kale has grown so well here (much to the surprise of nearly everyone).<\/p>\n

Here’s the steps of how we did it so you can repeat it:<\/p>\n

Step 1: The Seeds that Worked<\/h3>\n

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We used organic broccoli seeds from Burpee. The type is “Di Ciccio”, an heirloom variety from Italy.<\/p>\n