Nov 29th, 2011

Bodacious Brassica

by Jonah Holland

by Albert Brian Vick, Community Kitchen Garden Coordinator,  Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

The cauliflower and broccoli in the Lewis Ginter Community Kitchen Garden have been simply stunning, despite the warm weather. We have currently donated 9,503 total pounds of freshly-grown produce to The Central Virginia FoodBank, Meals on Wheels of Central Virginia & FeedMore’s  Community Kitchen for the 2011 season. We are still producing!  A couple of side benefits to note: 1) Broccoli and cauliflower leaves are edible and tasty, and 2) allowing the broccoli plants to produce side shoots after harvesting the primary crown is worth the wait (see photo below).

Laura Schumm holds a "big catch" of cauliflower. Note the abundance of edible, but often ignored, leaves.

Laura Schumm holds a "big catch" of cauliflower. Note the abundance of edible, but often ignored, leaves.

Nice continued production of broccoli side shoots. Not a lot of pure weight - but worth the wait.

Nice continued production of broccoli side shoots. Not a lot of pure weight - but worth the wait.

Part of the 64 pounds of broccoli harvested 11/28/11 (156 lbs. of broccoli year-to-date).

Part of the 64 pounds of broccoli harvested 11/28/11 (156 lbs. of broccoli year-to-date).

About Jonah Holland

Jonah Holland is Digital Content Manager at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where she has worked for 14 years overseeing social media, the blog, and the website. She is also a mom, yogi, open water swimmer, gardener, and seeker. She's been known to go for a walk in the Garden and come back with hundreds of plant photos, completely inspired to write her next blog post.

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