12 hours ago
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Although the purple sprouting broccoli (PSB) season has come to an end, now is not the time to stop thinking about this vibrant spring crop. If you have the room to grow it, purple sprouting broccoli started from seed now will grow through the summer, stand in the ground overwinter and be poised for picking by early next spring.
It’s a busy time in the veg patch, but it’s well worth finding an hour or so between all the planting and weeding to sow some purple sprouting broccoli seeds so that you’ve got crops to harvest in the leaner months.
You can sow into modular trays or small pots if, like me, you can feel overwhelmed by early summer and leave seedlings to languish. As my veg patch is on the small side, my emerging broccoli plants can expect to dwell in containers for the next few months, until there’s space for them in the ground, and that often means I pot them up multiple times before they are put in their final position. If you have more room than me, your young plants can go into the ground once they’ve developed a few sets of leaves and are around 10cm tall, which will be about four to six weeks after they germinate. With these lengthening days and warmer temperatures, growth may be even more rapid.
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Mature purple sprouting broccoli plants can get pretty large and need adequate space to grow – so leave at least 50cm of space between each one when planting out. It’s a plant that needs to grow in a sunny spot in fertile soil in order to thrive, so add compost to the planting hole and consider feeding with nettle feed to give them a boost of that all-important nitrogen. Generous watering is essential, too. Once fully grown, they can become unwieldy, so putting a stake in the ground by each stalk and tying securely will keep them supported.
As with most brassicas, purple sprouting broccoli needs to be protected from cabbage white butterflies, which lay their little yellow eggs on the underside of the leaves (the resulting caterpillars can destroy a crop). Keep your plants covered with insect-proof mesh, securely pinned to the ground. This should keep them out while also deterring pigeons, which like to peck the leaves.
Once nearing your harvest date (the exact time will depend on the variety), keep an eye out for the first floret to appear in the centre of the plant. You should pinch this out – and eat it! – to prompt the plant to produce lots of side shoots for you to harvest. I either use a harvest knife or simply snap the spears with my hands, and then eat them as soon as possible.
