The purple shoots of spring
As I write on the penultimate day of meteorological winter (27th February) the first shoots or ‘spears’ of purple sprouting broccoli have just been picked and eaten. There should now be further harvests, possibly extending into early May, before the spears become thin and stringy and the plants are spent. For me purple sprouting is one of the plots delicacies, a tasty treat that should be enjoyed gently steamed and served without any adornment. If I had to select a vegetable top ten purple sprouting would make the chart especially as it crops during the so-called hungry gap, that time in late winter and spring when few other fresh vegetables are available.
Purple sprouting seems both a niche and peculiarly British vegetable. Few of our non-UK WWOOFers are familiar with it. Nor, it must be said, are a good number of British WWOOFers who have led a life sheltered from proper veg. Due to its seasonality and perishability, purple sprouting broccoli is not a staple of supermarket shelves. For most shoppers broccoli means the grey-green blobby headed type, invariably sold swathed in plastic, that’s available, often imported, all year round. Gardeners and growers generally know this as ‘calabrese’. Quite different from its purple cousin in terms of cultivation and cropping times, it is essentially a summer and autumn vegetable struggling to survive outdoors in most of the UK through winter. Purple sprouting, on the other hand, is much hardier able to shrug off all but the most severe snow and frost. Although recent plant breeding has developed varieties that produce spears in late summer and autumn, it is still primarily a cold weather, late winter and early spring seasonal crop.
If you want to grow purple sprouting broccoli early May is soon enough to sow, but up to mid-June is not too late for those living in the warmer parts of the country. I tend to start plants in mid-May sowing seeds into cellular module trays. The seedlings are then grown-on in a cool greenhouse for about four weeks before planting outside. This method of raising the plants, which I use for all brassicas, has the advantage of ensuring optimal germination conditions and minimising issues with slugs, wood pigeons and other pests. An alternative is to sow in an outside seedbed and transplant, a method which can give sturdier and more robust seedlings. If either seems too fiddly another option is to buy in young plants.
When it comes to planting, generous spacing is essential. Full grown purple sprouting can reach a metre or more in height and spread half this distance. Crowding will lead to stunted growth and fewer, poorer quality spears. The minimum spacing should be 50cm apart, ideally a little further. Another essential, unless you are growing a huge number of plants on a field scale where there will be strength in numbers, is net protection. On sheltered vegetable plots, as with any brassicas, cabbage white butterfly caterpillars can wreak havoc in late summer. I grow all the plants under anti-butterfly net using lengths that are four metres wide as the more common two metre width has insufficient spread to encase the tall plants. This type of net will also prevent wood pigeon attack. Their predation can occur at any time but are most common on mature plants in snowy and frosty winter conditions. There is nothing worse, having nursed your broccoli plants through to the brink of cropping to have them shredded by ravenous wood pigeons in a spell of hard weather in February.
Until relatively recently the only varieties of purple sprouting broccoli commonly available were the traditional types ‘Early’ and ‘Late’. The latter now seems to have largely disappeared from seed catalogues although ‘Early’, or sometimes just ‘Purple Sprouting’, remains. The new varieties that have appeared are mainly F1 hybrids developed to bring the season forward to early winter, autumn and even late summer. I have tried a couple of these, Rudolph and Claret if memory serves me correctly, but found them disappointing. Not only has cropping been erratic but the plants did not seem to have the hardiness of the traditional types, some succumbing in cold conditions. Another downside, as the spears are produced before cold weather reduces insect activity, is more likelihood of cabbage aphid and whitefly infestation. I should also mention that other colours of sprouting broccoli are available besides purple. There are creamy white forms, notably the variety White Burbank. I haven’t grown this as it’s reputedly less hardy. Another type with whitish spears, one I’ve also never grown, is Nine Star Perennial. Said to be a half broccoli and half cauliflower this may be the first choice for a permaculture plot, although those who have grown it tell me that the spears produced after the main head can be a little tough. They also say, despite the perennial billing, that after about four years the plants weaken and productivity declines.
Perhaps I should be a bit more adventurous when it comes to cultivating broccoli. But after years of growing the traditional types of purple sprouting, I prefer to remain a stick in the mud. Growing your own is all about seasonality. Eating purple sprouting in late summer or autumn just doesn’t seem right. Nor does growing the white-headed types. The vivid colour of purple sprouting is part of its appeal. It seems to say I am good for you. And it is. Just 100 grams contains over 130% of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C and almost the full intake of folic acid.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading Mr Fluttergrub’s findings. Do you have experience of growing purple sprouting broccoli? Do let us know. We’d love to have your point of view so we can add them to our social media when we share this article for the benefit of the WWOOF UK community and beyond. Email us: editor@wwoof.org.uk
Photo credit: Mr Fluttergrub
