Broccoli varieties

[BeeWonderful]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Tasty.... very tasty!!! I've never tried curry leaves before. I wonder if I'd be ok with fresh leaves?

Curry leaves are used in south India much the way bay leaves are used here. They add a nice subtle flavor, but are not eaten. (Although of course it wouldn't hurt to eat them, it's just they're usually moved to the side of the plate and discarded.) I've tried growing a curry plant but it resents my Minnesota climate! It is currently hanging on between life and death but hubby assures me that even in India in the perfect climate, they are not easy to grow. Sometimes they take, but many times they don't.

[Equilibrium]

I haven't ever seen curry leaves or plants or even seed for sale anywhere.... maybe I wasn't paying attention? It'd be something I'd like to try just for the heck of it though since for some reason curry powder is 1 of the few things that makes me gag.... why... I don't know.... I seem to be able to eat just about everything else.

[BeeWonderful]

Curry leaf and curry powder are two completely different things!!!!

Curry powder is simply a blend of spices. I make curry powder from scratch: turmeric, coriander, red chilies, cumin, cloves, a few other things. And I only use it when I make red lentils ----- nothing else! Standard "curry powder" is a western notion. Indians do not cook with "curry powder." Since India was colonized by Britain, I imagine the British "invented" it & now that's what people think when they hear "curry". My husband's 88 year old mother never made "curry powder" a day in her life ( although she spent all her life in the kitchen.)

Curry means sauce. Americans have sauce for pizza, or pot roast, or chicken. All very different sauces.

Likewise, we make chicken curry, fish curry, mutton curry....the sauces are all wildly different and none uses westernized "curry powder".

The curry plant is Murraya koenigii. Another plant in the Murraya family is Orange Jasmine. PlantFiles: Detailed information on Curry Tree, Curry Leaf Tree, Curryleaf Tree, Sweet Nim Murraya koenigii

So while curry powder makes you gag, I imagine the curry plant will do nothing of the sort!

[biigblueyes]

I have spotted herbs called "curry", but they weren't a tree. They were silvery fuzzy-leafed plants.

A quick search tells me that they're not really curry, and the real curry is a subtropical tree. Which would explain why it's not sold where you are.

[biigblueyes]

I got excited - one source said it was hardy to zone 9, another zone 10. I'm zone 9 and would spring for seeds, not a tree, to see if it would work here. However. . . . I found seed on ebay, and the description said "minimum temperature 65 degrees". Nope, we're warm, but not that warm. We do hit freezing every year. Won't work here either.

[Equilibrium]

Hmmm.... even the temps in our house are dropped down to 60 at night in the winter so it won't work for me either.
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Quick fast.... road trip. Everybody crash BeeW's house for curry leaves. Just kidding Bee.

[Equilibrium]

'Acadia' broccoli is gonna be a keeper. This is the 1st year I tried growing it and I'm really happy with it.... nice big heads and it didn't bolt on me. 'Packman' did well again but what's really nice about 'Packman' is it keeps on providing side shoots. I tried 'Premium Crop' again this year and it was going gangbusters.... nice big heads and all but.... I didn't realize how fast it bolted and I ended up working some pretty long hours for a 3 day stretch and by the time I could harvest it.... it was flowering. I think that variety is gonna be hit or miss. If it's ready to harvest on say.... a weekend.... it'll be great. If you run into a time crunch and don't get to it.... it'll bolt. If I grow it again.... I think I'd go out in the dark and take it in because it really did bolt that fast. Could have been weather conditions but I don't think so. I only got 2 heads from this variety and all the rest are out there going to seed. I needed the experience collecting seed from broccoli anyway so I guess it's not a total loss growing this variety. The 1st photo is 'Acadia'.... 2nd and 3rd photos are 'Packman' showing how they produce side shoots that are large enough to be worth bringing in and putting up. I forgot to take a photo of the 'Premium Crop' but the 2 heads I brought in were about the size of 'Acadia'.

[dapjwy]

Lib,

I'm glad you are sharing your successes and your reviews here. I'm going to have to try Acadia since my broccoli only produced one flowerette...and a small one at that. Your Acadia seems to produce heads that rival those in stores. I'm either doing something wrong, or I have the wrong variety.

[Equilibrium]

Ummm... don't beat yourself up.... I doubt you did anything wrong. You probably just picked a variety that didn't fit well with where you're gardening is all.
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Ya.... the Acadia was an excellent performer but.... so was Packman and Premium Crop. I just wasn't able to be home when it shoulda been harvested is all and it bolted. You're off over the summer so Premium Crop would be fine for you. You have to experiment and take your lumps is all.
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I'm hoping other people experimenting with different varieties of everything will tell all because it helps me narrow down what I want to try. It'd be really nice if I could get down to 2 varieties of everything within the next few years so I could quit wasting space on varieties that won't perform as well for me where I'm gardening.

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Ummm... don't beat yourself up.... I doubt you did anything wrong. You probably just picked a variety that didn't fit well with where you're gardening is all.

...You're off over the summer so Premium Crop would be fine for you. You have to experiment and take your lumps is all.

I hope that is all it is.

Funny (not really), we are gone so much this summer (because Jeff is working really hard for a non profit organization and we are traveling all over the state), that, except for one week last week, we're not home more than two days straight sometimes! So, we really aren't getting any of the projects done that I wanted to complete before October...let alone doing much with the garden--but this year's garden is he best I've done so far.

We got home from 5 days on the road, and the corn I planted has tassels--corn silk, i mean--on them! They weren't there when we left.