Has anyone started & grown broccoli raab (rapini) from seed?

I did, and I'm a bit confused. I started the seed inside at the same time I started some other brassicas (some Italian broccoli, cabbages, etc.) I set the seedlings out a few weeks before last frost. They are all about 2-3" tall now. This is not the first time I've started broccoli & whatnot inside and transplanted it. Everything is going according to plan except the raab (which I've not grown before).

The silly little 2" plants are flowering! You're supposed to harvest the flowers right before they bloom--that's what broccoli raab is, the almost ready to flower flowers.

I'm pretty sure the plants will eventually get to be about 15-18"-- not 2"-- tall. What are your thoughts?

I've picked the little bitty flowers and used them in salad. Do you think I should overdose them with N to get them cranked up?




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"No crime is involved in plagiarizing nature's ways" (Edward H. Faulkner, 1943, "Plowman's Folly," University of Oklahoma Press).