" Pick the greens after the florets form but before the florets begin to open. Cut the plants at the ground level, or where the stem begins to get thick and toughen. If you harvest correctly, and the weather remains cool, you can expect a second and possibly third cutting from each plant.

Dear Bonjoey: Sounds like you're having the same trouble I had. If your New Jersey spring was as cold as my Long Island spring, the raab plants got confused and began to flower (set seed) before the plants had a chance to grow. When they begin flowering when only inches high they are goners. I pulled mine out and replaced them with other things. Meanwhile I started some new seed for later planting.

Dear Violet: Ordinarily, when my raab plants reach full growth (2-3 feet high) that's when the florets begin forming, all over the plant. I pick them just before they begin to open up, picking daily until the florets become too small to bother with. This can go on for two to three weeks until the plants run out of gas and I replace them with new plants waiting in the wings. You suggest cutting them back at their bases. I'm here to learn. Please explain further.

ligardener,

Two suggestions are above, the way you do it and cutting from the base. It's up to you which method you choose.

I still don't get it, Violet. What happens when you cut the plant at the base? Does it start a whole new plant at the base line, or does it just send out new shoots with florets at the tips?

Hi there, I am a bit confused too. Do we cut the entire plant, and does another plant grow back? Is the entire plant eatable? Thanks.

Ligardener,
Would you like to share it with me what kind of broccoli raab you grow, how to prepare the soil, how far to space the seed and when is the best time to sow.
Thanks

Dear luong, I'm late with my reply because I hadn't visited this site since my last posting. I hope that this reaches you.

I start my raab in small containers, cell packs when I expect to use the plants early, and 4-inch pots when I expect to nurse them along for awhile. Then when the time is ripe they go straight into the ground about 2 1/2 to 3-feet apart. I don't select any particular type of raab, but settle for whatever is in stock at the nursery. When the plants grow large and heavy I stake them to keep them upright. I plant them in early spring and again when the plants run out of steam, in early summer.

It has already opened yellow blossoms! So it is no good? No part of it is now edible? Can I let it go to seed and use the seeds? When? My daughter planted it in my raised planters and didn't really now what it was supposed to look like or exactly what it was!

When the flowers open, the "broccoli" part (flowers) gets bitter. It is still edible (as are the leaves- which are bitter too).

To eliminate the bitterness (at least for the flowers), boil it for five minutes. Then put it in ice water for a few minutes. Finally, drain well. This is called bleaching.

Right now I still have my rapini plants in the ground. They are only producing very tiny stems. I have let some go to seed and keep harvesting the rest. WIll they ever start producing again if I leave them? or best to pull and replant something else and then replant these again later in the summer?