Topic: purple sprouting brocoli

[PurpleHeather]

Don't be tempted to throw them away. This time next year you will be looking for veg!!

They are very hardy and you can put them in containers until you have space.

Any old bucket or container with holes drilled in the bottom will work for each plant.

[tim]

So when do you sow, TG?

Indoors or out?

[Robert_Brenchley]

you can plant them out a few inches apart, anywhere you've got a little bit of space, then move them on to their permanent places later.

[Plot69]

Are PSB typical brassicas in as much as they do better when planted in concrete? Or very firm at least.

[Tee Gee]

So when do you sow, TG?  Indoors or out?

Mid to late May as a general rule, although this is not hard and fast rule, it often depends upon the seasons!

That is; if it is a late season (for whatever reason) and my earlier sown stuff is taking up space in my cold frames, I wait till I have got the bulk of this stuff planted out before sowing.

In fact to show how flexible I can be I have even been known to sow as late as July.

I germinate them indoors then pot them up individually into 3" pots until I have space ready for them.

[Crystalmoon]

Thanks PurpleHeather thats just what i needed to hear  ;D
I will plant them in tubs until Ive harvested my potatoes then put them on my lottie.

[tim]

Thanks, TG.

[PurpleHeather]

Thanks PurpleHeather thats just what i needed to hear  ;D
I will plant them in tubs until Ive harvested my potatoes then put them on my lottie.

That will be fine. Just note that they do tend to get very leggy once planted out and I sometimes actually have to tie mine to canes over winter to stop them falling over.

You can eat the leaves as well as the purple sprouts and they steam well, which keeps the colour.

A cheese sauce. Like cauliflower cheese is nice and they also make a tasty soup with leeks and potato, the colour can be off putting though. Very Bridget Jones. But you could serve it at a dinner party as Bridget Jones soup. Alternatively if you have a lot. Try them deep fried tempura style with a garlic and mayo' dip as a starter. ENJOY

[Crystalmoon]

wow you have made my mouth water with these great recipe ideas Yum!  ;D

[growmore]

The trouble I found with growing too many psb plants was that once its ready it dont stand at its best too long .. I have tried staggering sowings of over wintered psb but even with a month or 6 weeks intervals between setting it out it still sprouted at more or less the same time .   

[moonbells]

I managed to grow a decent load of psb a year ago, then got ill and bedbound just as they sprouted - so when I finally got back to the allotment 6 weeks later they were a mass of yellow flowers and I never got to eat a single one of the maincrops (and only a small sprout of the early). They subsequently went to seed.

I now have the payback. The whole bed is full of little seedlings which will do me and everyone else for miles around for psb plants for next season!

moonbells

[Barnowl]

The trouble I found with growing too many psb plants was that once its ready it dont stand at its best too long .. I have tried staggering sowings of over wintered psb but even with a month or 6 weeks intervals between setting it out it still sprouted at more or less the same time .   

Because they have a long growing period, I think they tend to coincide if they're all the same variety. How about having one early and one late variety or are you doing that already? There are also extra early that are meant to sprout from November to February.

[simon404]

"Romanesco" is a good variety for autumn - winter harvesting  :)

[Barnowl]

I'm trying Rudolph and Red Arrow - supposedly Nov/Feb and Feb/May respectively. Also Bordeaux F1 which is meant to harvest from July to Nov (but as I haven't sown any yet I think that would be a bit optimistic.)