Calabrese Broccoli

In this Plant Profile, get specific details, including the characteristics and best uses of Calabrese broccoli, one of six Plant Profiles featured in our Broccoli Collection.

Calabrese Broccoli

Calabrese broccoli is probably what you imagine when you think of supermarket broccoli. It’s an heirloom heading variety introduced to the seed trade in 1910, brought to America by Italian immigrants. Calabrese broccoli boasts medium to large bluish-green heads and will gift you with numerous side shoots after you harvest the main head. Calabrese is full of classic broccoli flavor.

Sun exposure:

Full sun (six to eight hours)

Soil pH:

6.5 to 7.0

Hardiness Zones:

3 to 10

Spacing:

Thin to 12 to 18 inches apart
Space rows 3 feet apart

Moisture:

1 to 1.5 inches per week depending on rainfall

Notes:

Rich broccoli flavor
5-inch heads
Grows to 30 to 36 inches high
Matures in 65 days
Can be planted in early spring or late summer

Have you ever grown Calabrese broccoli? Please tell us about your experiences with Calabrese broccoli.

Comments

Todd M. September 23, 2023

WAY BACK in the stone-ages, (1999), I grew Premium Crop as a last-ditch effort to put some broccoli plants in the garden from our local Walmart. I got a lot of broccoli from that crop all Fall, almost to Thanksgiving. I gave them no special care or protection. I began calling these my “iron plants”. If I find this variety in the seed catalogs again, I’m just liable to grow it again. Not even sure if it’s still available. Maybe it has a newer variety now to replace it. Tm.

M. Todd Morando, KC, KS.
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