This is not a story about broccoli taking off and running away from it all but what happens to broccoli in the hot summer sun if left unpicked. Broccoli likes some shade and when it does not get it, especially, in the heat of summer, it will go to seed or bolt.

The plant is then beyond the eating stage, but you could save seeds, and it is pretty, so while not a total loss, still you have missed the opportunity to harvest a delicious and healthy vegetable. I was reminded of broccoli’s tendency to bolt while reading Earth toTable. This, in turn, reminded me of a garden that I helped a friend start about four years ago. She wantd to grow some vegetables and had a good size backyard.

Broccoli was a vegetable she enjoyed so we planted it. There was no shade in the yard, direct sun all  day, and I advised her that the broccoli would need to be watched closely.

Well she missed a few days in mid-July and, yep, the broccoli bolted. i advised her to leave it grow and it looked good and might self-seed but that year she had to buy broccoli rather than harvesting her own.