Harvesting Broccoli

[Mike]

I'm so glad all you experts are here. I'm going to be asking questions regularly for at least the next two years.

Anyways, I read somewhere that broccoli needs to be harvested before it starts flowering, but I can't tell, from looking at mine, if now is the time or not. I'm thinking yes, but I was hoping some of you might be able to confirm it for me, at least the best y'all can from a photo. To me, it looks like maybe some of that yellowing might be the flowers starting, but I don't know what to look for just yet so I'm not 100% certain.

Here's what I've got right now...

 

[YumYum]

Nice job on the broccoli.

Each little pod is an immature flower that will open up in time. They also want to spread apart from each other. You don't want that. Right now the pods are closed tightly and the head is still densly packed. I would harvest that if it were mine.

 

[Meadowlark]

It's time! Get a sharp knife and harvest away.