Home grown Purple Sprouting broccoli
Comments(77)
If more people tasted home grown purple sprouting broccoli they would surely cultivate it. You would see it on London balconies, in country herbaceous borders and standing proud in every kitchen garden in the land. Home grown does not have the slight limpness and bitterness of the supermarket stuff. It’s sweet and delicate and melt in the mouth.
The only problem with this vegetable is that it takes a year to mature. The seeds are planted towards the end of April and the long-ish wait puts people off. I reckon most people plant it, loose the seed packet and when it is not producing florets in the autumn the plants are hoiked out and thrown into the compost bin. It has the reputation of being a difficult vegetable. It is easy. Best germinated and grown on before planting out, it requires very little attention. It attracts the cabbage white butterfly and once you have dealt with this it is basically plain sailing until the harvest in the Spring. The only problem is that you don’t have enough.
To get a decent harvest, with many forays down the garden trug in hand, you need at least twelve plants and these take up quite a bit of space (2′-3′ apart 2.5′- 3.5′ between rows). The cropping season is short (four weeks), but you can extend this by harvesting regularly and growing early and late varieties. Then you can feast from March until well into May.
Despite these drawbacks I wouldn’t dream of not growing purple sprouting broccoli. At the moment we foster John Coe’s donated plants (mid season). They can be blanched and frozen, which I think I might do this year.
Broccoli is a cut and come again vegetable. The more you crop the more it produces. We didn’t twig this the first year and the season was so short that even the optimistic Danny was a bit disappointed.
The purple bobbles on the florets are in fact buds. If you leave them on the plant they will open into tiny flowers and the plant will not produce any more florets.
It’s one of the most flavoursome of vegetables. It stands beside asparagus and globe artichokes in my book. But at this time of year it is the first tasty, fresh surprise. Rushed from the kitchen garden to simmering saucepan, it’s a delight. I’m not keen on loads of veg but I love these tasty heads in a stir fry or snuggled beside slices of one of Danny’s superb Sunday roasts. It’s also heartening to see the plants standing stoically throughout the winter when most of the kitchen garden is bare.
It was so dry last summer that our purple sprouting broccoli went in very late (end of August). The plants are not nearly as big as last year. A couple of weeks ago they showed no signs of sprouting when John Coe and I examined them. This morning I spotted the first purple heads as I nipped past to open the greenhouse door.
I rushed back to the house to trumpet the news. Danny was shaving and gave the sort of resonant shriek that should always herald the arrival of this wonderful vegetable.
White sprouting broccoli is worth growing too. It has a more delicate taste than the purple but is less hardy.
Unwins has a good PSB variety available here.
Also Thompson and Morgan are always worth checking out as they stock several varieties including the white one.
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I’ll have to try this next year. This year I have ordinary broccoli (or calabrese) planned. Aren’t all these broccoli names confusing?
So you have to take the purple bobbles off? Is that as soon as they as they appear? I’ve got seeds, so will be putting them in soon.
Wow – I didn’t realise it took so long to grow. We’re currently ‘thinking’ about what to do with our garden and are planning (possibly) to stick in a bunch of raised beds over the winter for next year’s dinners. I’d hoped some purple-sprouting could be one of my first succesess- instead it looks like I might have to wait until 2009!
I’ll be pushed for space when it comes down to it – so can the rest of the plant be eaten? I’d be loathe to plant something that takes-up a lot of space but doesn’t produce that much (no matter how delicious!)
My family have been growing purple sprouting ever since I can remember (I am sixty) and many years before that my Mother says.Together with runner beans it was my Husband’s favourite vegetable,we looked forward to it every year with great enthusiasm.Now I’m a widow and I share an old farmhouse with my daughter and son-in-law.I have introduced him to it(he is a Londoner) and had never grown veg until 2 years ago,he is now a great fan.We live in Norfolk and our plants have been cropping now for three weeks.
Yes Ash, I was surprised when the broccoli that I was buying turned out to be calabrese.
Angelfeet don’t pick off the purple sprouts as soon as they appear (they are tiny at first. We pick them when they are about 2cm diameter. Keep picking regularly to extend the season.
Richard it’s worth giving PSB a go even just one row of plants. The difference between home grown and the shop stuff is like the difference between cheap Cava and good Champagne.
Rosemary we love PSB and runner beans. Lucky you cropping PSB for the past three weeks. Thanks for dropping by.
I have several plants that are just starting to bud and i was wondering what I harvest and how much. I must admit I didn’t realise it matured in the Spring I just thought we has a very mild winter and they had oddly hung about. I suppose I need to know how much stalk to take as well as the Purple Buds. I can’t wait !! My Asparagus comes of age this year too ! Woohoo !
Hi Rich
Snap off the central sprouting stem first as this encourages the side shoots to develop fast.
You need to pick the heads and the stalk beneath, snapping them back to the central stem. You need to keep on top of the harvesting as once the heads flower your harvest is over. The more you harvest the more side shoots will appear. The harvest period can be as long as 6 weeks or even more.
It freezes well too.
Hi, I planted this in the ground last year and harvested it a few weeks back, the best broccoli of those I’ve tasted in my opinion. I’m new to growing veg and checking the plant last night it’s flowered – I’m gutted
( (Our son, myself and my partner have not been well over the last few weeks so we have taken our eye off the ball). I cut the flowered sections off and left the shoots that are yet to flourish, hope to get more as want to show this off to family and friends when entertaining.
Hi Rob
This has happened to me and it’s devastating. Here’s hoping that the shoots do their business well for you.
We harvested a massive amount this year but you are right – you have to keep on top of the crop
Thanks for dropping by..
Hi Rob,
I tried to grow this last year and the plants were destroyed by caterpillars, I think they were cabbage white.
What is the best way of protecting your plants form this menace?
Regards,
Onion Sargey
Hi Oionsargey
I try to be organic and I spray with soapy water when the eggs are laid on the plants.It usually does the trick.
You can try spraying with a systemic insecticide (non organic) or covering the crop with thin white gardening fleece.
Hi Oionsargey,
Cover the plants with fine mesh netting to keep out the white butterfly. I found that staking each plant very important…they tend to grow and grow with very large leaves which makes them top heavy and prone to keeling over….worth all the trouble even though they have the same gestation period as an elephant !!.
Regards,
Patrick Arthur
I have been very proud of how well my purple sprouting has been doing and was already awaiting the first taste next spring however I have come home from holiday to find every single one of my plants (including my Kale and Sprouts) completely stripped bare by caterpillars! Not a leaf left in sight! Is this the end of these plants (i.e. better luck next year) or will they recover if I eradicate the little beasties!!!
Regards
Harriet
Hi,
I have had the same problem with the caterpillars
strippig my PSB bare! Does anyone know if it’s worth leaving the plants in the ground or should I pull them up?
I’m growing this for the first time this year and looking forward to the purple sprouts in Spring. Is it possible to eat some of the leaves while we’re waiting or are they too bitter? My veg patch is tiny and there’s an awful lot of greenery going to waste at present.
hi. its the first time ive grown p/s/b/ do i cut off the top (flower) its not flowerd yet but there on top of the plant(buds) we have around 20
plants your advice would be most grateful thank you martin
relief! I planted a whole bunch of this stuff on my farm to try out, was about to give up! Guess I’ll give it some more time was beginning to wonder though, its going on 5 months for the first batch, the plants are beautiful but no florets, the pack said 60-70 days, guess it should have read 6-7 months! Cheers from Maui
Hi Tom
Loads of my clients plant this, throe away the seed packet and dig up the plants after four or five months.
Once the baby plants are in the ground (July in the UK) they will not harvest until April the following year.
The more florets that you pluck the more will grow. Just don’t let them go to seed and flower as this is curtains for a plant. If you are diligent they can crop for over six weeks.
I’ve heard the plants last for more than one year, that is after the first harvest. Is this true?
Mary
I have grown this in my obliging parents garden for the first time, having no idea what to expect as none of the regular gardening books actually show you what the plant is supposed to look like, just close up’s of the heads. So after sowing some in a pot and then growing on the plants in pots until they were about 8″ I planted them out in rows, but looking at the spacing after the summer growth I think it is best to give them at least a couple of feet diameter to grow as mine ended up quite bunched together. I staked them, and then staked them again after they got over a metre high. The highest plant is now over 5ft!I am told that mine are unusually huge by another gardner who happened to see them!
They were plagued with white caterpillar over the summer, which meant many evenings of squash-the-bugs patrol but the plants survived ok and withstood the winter well. So, a year later and still no heads, I was wondering if all my hard work had come to nothing…
But a month ago the first heads DID start to appear, and yesterday I ate my first heads for dinner and they were lovely. Well worth the effort. But they do take up a lot of space for a long time if you haven’t got much room in your plot. I recommend netting your crop to avoid the dreaded cabbage white butterflies.
I have 15 plants which are now cropping, my friends and neighbours will be getting lots I think!
Tip: steaming seems to take a lot of the colour out, I have been told that boiling in very hot water with a dash of vinegar for a just a couple of mins should help preserve it.
Hi Mary M
I have never heard this. We always plant new plants in July (set the seeds two or three months earlier.
Hi Suze
So pleased that you finally got a good result from your PSB. They do take a long time to mature but are so well worth the wait.
Thanks for your cooking tip. Will try that next time. Meanwhile have you tried growing white sprouting broc http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=2366 This is the Beluga Caviar of the sprouting broccoli world. They take up less space too!
I’ve been cropping our psb for about a month now and giving some away too, its fab. I made a mistake when planting and had them far too close (I have about a dozen in the size of a single bed)But they have done really well.
We spent the early summer delighted that these strange triffid like plants had attracted LOTS of butterflies and were horrified as those hungry caterpillars did their worst. We had to start squishing and the children enjoyed the bug patrol. A friend of mine, who gave me the seeds didn’t want to kill caterpillars and left it until she just had stalks, but the hardy little plants grew back and she has been eating her own crops.
I didn’t stake them and they have kept quite low. I will be growing these again this year.
Hi Sarah
I have never staked mine but I though that I might give stakes a go this year. Home grown tastes so much sweet than shop bought don’t you think?
Hi all,
we’ve recently moved to Basel in Switzerland and I’m hoping to put in some PSB this year to crop early next year – especially as you can’t get it in the supermarkets out here! But the winter can be quite hard, so my question is what do I have to do to protect the plants from hard frost and snow? This is actually a mild area of the country and the average winter doesn’t see too much snow, but regular overnight temperatures of -5 – -10.
thanks!
kate
Hello Kate-in-Basel
I’ve no idea about winter gardening in Basel. If I was you, I’d take a trip to the best garden shop and ask for advice.
I bet you could grow them using fleece as long as they were well established by the autumn.
Hi everyone
I used to grow psb a few years ago when I had a small veg garden and yes, you can eat other then the heads.
The leaves kept us going for quite a lot of the winter months by taking a few and boiling them for lunch – lovely
I’m going to try growing about six in any place I can find a bit of spare soil as soon as I get the seeds, or better still the plants. Could look good in a flower bed!! as someone pointed out.
How funny!! I’ve just taken over some garden next door to grow veg;. The first things I planted was Pak Choi, PSB and potatoes. Well I’ve just checked the PC and they have “bolted”, I;ve just read about them online and it seems I’ll have to start again!! Now I’ve read this webpage and I’ve realised that I won’t be able to eat my PSB until next year.
Let’s hope that the pots grow and survive!?! They have poked their heads above ground, my friend has told me to pile the soil around them, so that’s what I’ll be doing at the weekend! (As well as pulling out the Pak Choi!)
But I’m not put off and I’ll learn from the experiences. I cleary need to read pages like this before I buy and plant next time.
Thanks all.
Bummie!!
Hi Everyone,
I planted some seeds in early spring 2008, the weather was really poor if I recall and I pretty much gave up hope of anything growing. 2008 came and went with nothing, so you can imagine my supprise when shoots rapidly turned in to large leaves in March 2009. By April I had lovely purple sprouts. I wasn’t sure when to pick so I left them a little while, then one started to produce yellow flowers so I quickly picked the rest!. Albeit only a small amount verse the amount of foilage, they were absoultely wonderful! yum. I picked some of the leaves to give my friends rabbit as I was unsure if I could do anything with the rest? Anyway, can anybody tell me what to do next? Do I leave the large leaves and stems, or do I cut back?
Thankyou
Teresa
[...] Purple sprouting broccoli plants need nine months to develop and a year from planting the seed. Baby plants go into the ground in July and are finally harvested the next April. Far sweeter than the sprouting broccoli available in the shops, these are well worth growing at home. They do have to be grown under nets so they are not eaten by the birds and you need to keep your eyes peeled for the cabbage white caterpillars that can destroy the crop in just a few days. [...]
so much useful information about psb, but i still have a query. I’ve planted out the young plants grown from seed earlier this year. Since going in the ground they’ve been growing at an incredible rate and have already started producing purple florets. This is my first year growing psb and i wasn’t expecting a crop until the winter. Having read the other posts i’ve now harvested the central florets and hope the side ones will get bigger. One plant has already gone to flower so i may have lost that one. I’m just a bit confused as the major complaint seems to be the long wait – and yet mine seem to be impatient! Do you think i should enjoy it while it lasts… And is there any chance of a second harvest in the winter?
I’m with James on this…though I have experience of both impatient plants and a long wait without results.
Last year I planted out a little late, I think – July time. They grew ok but come June still nothing florets but I did have 5ft broccoli trees, with trunks 6cm in diameter. I eventually gave up on them and hauled them out of the ground.
In April of this year I sowed more seeds. Then I struck lucky a couple of months back: I came across some Gourmet Brassica grow bags for £1 each (normally £4), so I grabbed about 20 and stuffed broccoli, cawliflower and sprouts into them – 6 plants to a bag. Brilliant! It’s all shot up and I’ve already had to cut out the central shoots on a few of them. The difference versus last year is amazing.
However, I also planted out into a raised bed at the same time as filling the grow bags, and that broccoli is almost as advanced. So maybe it’s not the bags, maybe it’s the temperature. (Not even sun or lack of it because the bags are in the sun and the beds are largely out of it.) We’re in Scotland and had an unusually hot spell in May. Could it be that that has made all the difference – given them a head start?
My conclusions? The grow-bags are great space savers, but they’re not essential (and I wouldn’t pay £4 for one). You can pack the plants in more tightly than the packets suggest without any ill effects. Sowing the seed early under a plastic tunnel (a cheap on from Lidl in my case) gives the plants a head start and seems to mean you can get a same-year crop. And if you can organise for sun in May….
Hope that’s of help.
Same here – I planted seed in a deep bed in March and one ( only one) of my PSB has produced florets and the central one is flowering . So its going to be PSB with the organic pork for Sunday Lunch tomorrow.
Nick
Hi James
I’ve never had PSB florets before March of the following year. Having planted the baby plants in July.
Some of our calabrese produced early florets this year.
Hello Keith
I’m going to try your method of planting the seeds earlier next year. Thanks for the tip!
Hi Nick
I’m so envious, lucky you. Definitely sowing seed earlier next year.
Hi
I planted purple sprouting broccloi plugs earlier this year and wondered from what I have read here whether I should expect any florets this year. I thought that by buying the plugs I might get them this year but up to now there is now sign of florets. Can Anyone help?
Thanks
Dawn
Hi Dawn
We plant out 6″ plantlets in July and harvest the crop on April of the next year.
I planted these young plants bought from a garden centre about three or four months ago will that make any difference? Will I still only get florets next year?
Have just dug up last years PSB and have kept and dried the seeds. Will these be okay to plant again or do I need to buy a new packet?
Hi Dawn
Yes there is a long investment of time in PSB. That’s why it’s so expensive in the shops.
Hello Tim
If the seeds were F1 they will not come true next year. If they were just an ordinary seed it would be worth giving them a go.
Hi dawn
What does F1 mean?
I think this broccoli is the best. It tastes great, has a long harvest period, and is one of the first plants ready for harvest in spring. I’m a bit lazy and often leave this plant for another year when it produces again, but not as much as the first time around. The tender leaves are edible like kale so another good reason to leave the plants through another winter.
Hello bdg
Yes I agree with you we are growing this in eaarnest ATM. 46 PSB plants and 16 white SB.
Really fresh it’s much sweeter than the store bought stuff.
Help!
I bought 8 plugs in September and (in the absence of my planned raised veg bed and in light of a hasty promise to my other half to grow his favourite vegetable!) just re-planted them straight away into larger pots without much thought about what I would then do with them. They’re still quite small (only 4/5 leaves). The pots won’t be large enough to keep them in until harvest time.
I’d appreciate some advice about what to do next as I suspect I’ve properly mucked it up so far!!! Will learn my lesson for next year
Hi Abi
I’m not sure if they can be grown in pots but they can be planted virtually anywhere in the garden – harvest time is April. You could try them in growbags which is a sort of halfway house between pot and border. I’d put in max 3 to a grow bag.
They need to be tranfered asap and give them a feed (tomato food) to settle them in.
Great! Thanks ever so much…..will I have to take special measures to protect them over winter?
Hi Abi
As they are still quite small they may need a bit of protection until they get established. Some of ours went in early july and are now 4′ tall. Others went in in september and they are about a foot tall.
Well glad I read this as I was heading out to haul up those broccoli with all their leaves and nothing else… first year of growing and have had corn and cauliflower etc and thought these had failed.. guess will have to wait till April!!!!
I sowed PSB indoors in march. Planted out in may thinking it was radish, opps. New to gardening. It grew prolificly. One flowered midsummer, thought it must have bolted. Then an older neighbour said it takes 18 months to grow. So I decided to leave it for amusement value as much as anything. Its now November and the original flowering one has gone to seed, pods like peas, another is flowering, good luck to the bees if they are still around. And another is sprouting in the centre, buds. Thought it would look like broccolli in the supermarkets, except it would be purple. Not. Did have the caterpillar flies, but no harm, sprayed it a few times organically. The rest are smaller and I reckon if I cover them fron the birds, I will get something in the spring!! Very confused by PSB.
The Dipel powder (Bt) has always worked for me against any caterpillars on Cruciferae.
Further to the queries re hardiness of PSB in very low temperatures. I live in the South West of France and we recently had temperatures as low as -8 and thick snow. I looked at my plants and they looked just like frozen veg, all limp and very dark green. I was so unhappy, all that waiting for nothing.. However 2 days after the weather warmed up a bit, they were just as they were before. Now I just have to wait until they are ready to eat..
I found a one-year-out-of-date packet of PSB I’d bought in the UK, so planted it and it has germinated I am so excited. I live in Austria, near Vienna, so will be feeling my way in terms of getting it through the winter woes, but Carole’s post inspired me with optimism. I wonder why the Europeans haven’t cottoned on to this unbelievable veggie? Has anyone had experience of collecting (viable)seeds?
[...] I was given five purple sprouting broccoli plants last year by some friends and thanks to the good advice at The Cottage Gardener’s blog I didn’t hoik the plants out in the autumn and waited [...]
[...] over the last three years in our small garden plot. Our huge success so far this year however is purple sprouting broccoli (do click on that link, BTW – it’s full of interesting information on how easy it [...]
I planted small PB plugs last October in a raised bed. The late planting solved the problem of caterpillars. By Christmas they were about a foot high but grew no more during the cold and snowy Jan/feb. But then in March they romped ahead and I picked lots of lovely florets from mid March. Still some being produced now (end of April) However two of the 12 plants produced no florets despite growing well – anyone any idea why?
I think that the ones that have not produced florets will shoot a bit later on.
OK – thanks I won’t put them on the compost just yet then!
Hey, i planted my 1st PSB plants last year 2009, the packet said do not touch till next year (this year 2010) However end of summer we noticed some lovely looking purple heads had a small debate and decided we couldnt wait so picked and enjoyed them!! This year we are so far enjoying picking lots and lots of purple heads. My advise is if anything grows in the 1st year pick it and enjoy it, you will only get one crop though. They are very hardy and mine survived being eaten my caterpillers of slugs, not sure which will they were nearly just stalks and they servived a very heavy winter when they were covered in snow for ages and had temps of about -15 some nights.
My question is do I keep the plants in or after the two years take them out and start again. I have more seeds germinating this year as my 5 plants grown last year arnt enought (tastes soooo good, more is required) but I dont know how long the plants last. Can anyone help???
Feet=)
I have 10 inch high plants ready to put in the garden, which is small. They look healthy. Should I put them in now (early May) or grow them on a bit? (Please see above, I am near Vienna and this is the first time I’ve grown PSB).
In my first year of PSB-ing slugs devoured the small plants but then following year, because the slugs weren’t interested in the roots, they popped back up, so don’t depair if your PSBs get munched.
This year I’ve let one go to seed – not sure if the seeds are the whole pods or if I have to break them open to get at the individual seeds? Is there any chance of me growing further plants from the seeds? If so any advice?
I planted my first batch of PSB about 8 weeks ago, and blow me, one of them is already displaying a little purple head. I thought they weren’t ready until next Feb!! They’re already over 3 feet high and thick as anything – I guess they like the chicken manure. From the comments on here I guess I’d best get snipping away before it goes to seed. I’ve planted way too many and they’re all bunched up together at the moment after a very badly planned two one week stints away very close to each other. I need to clear a new patch in the never ending uncultivated jungle before I can give them the space they need though!!
[...] Purple sprouting. Yum. One of those veggies that you don’t really appreciate as a kid but grows on you. Not literally you understand – I may get dirt behind the fingernails, but I do shower. Its a lot softer in texture than other overwintering brassicas and has something of the earthiness of sprouts about it, while being more rounded and smooth somehow, flavoursome to quote cottage smallholder. [...]
Any suggestions, or have i killed it completely?
Thanks
Em
Hi Emma
What bad luck
You could try standing it in a bucket of water. Snap off all the florets and see whether anymore come.
i know…i was gutted! Will try that. Thanks.
My PSB have been really hardy, they survived (all but a few that rotted), during a very cold winter without being protected, and a couple that had soggy stems that I expected to die off sprang back to life. I’ve even got one still going great guns after being snapped in the wind and being held up by canes. Not quite on the ball though with the harvesting, I picked a carrier bag full yesterday but a couple of the plants have now flowered. Good experience though, is very rewarding to grow your own.
Happy gardening.
I grew my psb from seed and planted it out in April. I have already had one harvest from it and am waiting for the new florets to mature a little. Does anyone know if I should prune any of the leaves back as they seem disproportionately large?
Great advice all. Growing it in Australia, planted seeds in late Summer Feb11. The leaves are huge. I haven’t tried eating the leaves, any suggestion on how to cook the leaves?
Hi Peter
Cook the leaves just like cabbage or spring greens
When I was a young man in England I grew Purple Sprouting and it was marvellous, especially for the young children. So now in Australia I have tried to grow it again. I planted my seedlings out in early August and now, by 9 Nov they are huge plants. We were hoping to see a crop of sprouting soon but if this is to happen in our Spring that will be 5 to 6 months from now! Is there something we can do to cause the sprouting to occur early such as nipping out the head of the plant?
Ignorant of the requirements we planted out some small plants during early summer. The plants have grown vigorously and some are now 3ft high. Yesterday I noticed a couple of plants have formed small purple florets atop the main rowing stem. Do I start to harvest now to promote the side shoots or is time to abandon ship and start again next year?
Hi Dave
Oh lucky you! Early PSB. Yes nip off the top shoots on the two plants and you should get side shoots soon.
Hi Alan
I don’t think that you can nip out the top of the plant until it has florets. Sometimes ours grow huge by late October and finally produce the florets the next spring. Keep an eye on them as you might be lucky like Dave who has early shoots
This is my first season growing them. What I have noticed is that the first floret takes the longest to grow. I did nip some and let some alone to see the difference. Based on my opinion, I wouldn’t nip them. FYI, to cook them, the best way is heat up some olive oil and then stir fry them. Add salt and pepper and a bit of oyster sauce for taste. My PSB were attacked by aphids, which you can use a simple organic spray (garlic, chili, detergent, etc…google the recipe) does the trick.
My Dad used to grow these on his allotment when I was a child. I love them, but they do use a lot of space in a small garden, so we didn’t grow them in the gardens of our first two homes. Now we have the space.
Mine suffer from two predators
1. My husband, who won’t eat them anyway, and who feels that they will come to nothing, and wishes to pull them up.
2. Pigeons, who have very little else to peck at over the winter.
So we construct a “cage” with canes about a metre high about every metre around the patch and cover it with netting, using pegs to attack it to the canes and pegs pushed into the ground to anchor it – and there it sits and develops all winter. Can’t wait to eat it. The pegs once dried out are re-used the next year.
I live in the souteastern United States and have been interested in trying PSB. Unfortunately there is little information that I can find on this vegetable in general and nothing that I can find anywhere concerning growing under the hot and humid conditions where I live.
I would be afraid to plant a cole crop of any kind in the middle of July as you do with PSB in England. Do you think a young PSB transplant could withstand the harsh summer conditions of my climate? Should I plant out in September instead with hopes for a Springtime harvest? Any other considerations and adjustments that I might want to make in growing this vegetable?
Hi Brad
I reckon that if you planted it out in September it should do well and put on enough growth before the weather cools. Love to hear how you get on if you try doing this!
Thanks for your help everyone.
I decided that my mistake was sowing sprouting broccoli at the wrong time of the year and I am not prepared to see this thing through for another 6 months. So I pulled out 80% of the crop and for the remainder I cut the head off the plants just as an experiment. One of them started sprouting immediately but the others are still confused and have done nothing. Now the challenge is to protect the sprouting from caterpillar. When I sow the seeds in 4 months time to grow the crop through our Australian winter I hope to miss the cabbage white and get a fast and early cropping of sprouting broccoli. Let’s see.
Alan
Hello ! I have three PSB’s in my garden, and, you say you can pick the florets at about 2 cm ? I also have shoots forming underneath the main stem. So, would it ok to cut the main stem now? Or am I too early as it’s only just turning into February? Many, many thanks