In article ,
"0tterbot" wrote:

last year in dead of winter, dh planted some broccoli seeds (out of season,
yes.) then we moved in september, so we dug the plants up & brought them
here to see what might happen. mostly, as you can imagine, it didn't work
too well - they got infested with aphids & bolted immediately, so i pulled
them out. one didn't bolt - it didn't really do anything - so i jsut left it
there & ignored it entirely, & it's still alive. i now see it's beginning to
flower(!), so i started watering it again, etc.

is this unusual? it seems really odd to me, but then i've never grown
broccoli before. i also can't imagine how it lived through a summer of
drought with no water to speak of whatsoever, and in a spot where it just
doesn't get more than a few hours of direct sunlight per day. but there you
have it, it appears to be thriving.

but my question is, is it unusual for a broccoli to act like a perennial or
something, like this? will they try to live until they've flowered or
soemthing kills them, no matter how long it takes?

It's an annual, and it's acting like one. Transplant stress and insect attack
caused the rest to bolt, but this one survived because it *had* more shade.
Vegies in Australia need less direct sunlight than you might think,
particularly in summer.

Now the weather is cooler, your broc has got the message that it needs to
reproduce, so is doing its thing. It will die when it has set seed. You can
leave it there and collect the seeds, if you like.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue