sprouting broccoli - all leaves no sprouts!, and floury pumpkin

[anthea]

Dear all, can anyone explain my two failures this year?

First, my sprouting broccoli grew very impressively - all the plants are tall, but super-leafy, with loads of leaves all up the stem, but not a single sprout of purple to be seen. Does anyone know why this would be, and is the only answer to pull them up?

Second, my Crown Prince pumpkins, which last year were delicious, are very floury this year. I wonder if it's something I did? I did leave them a long time on the allotment, thinking it was good to let them harden off. Might I have left them too long - or is there some other explanation?

Any ideas very welcome.
thanks
Anthea

[anthea]

[diggerrick]

hi, my broccoli is exactly the same ill be interested in any of your answers you get ? cheers rick.

[saddad]

If it is a true sprouting broccoli... and not a calabrese type... then it will produce the "sprouts" after Winter...  :)

[steve76]

Last year i wasn't picking my purple till February time..

[pumkinlover]

No problem with the PSB, something to look forward to! :)

Your squash may not have had enough moisture? Very few of us have done well this year :-\ Mainly due to the dry but miserable weather. I kept hearing it was going to rain, and did not water much so mine are rubbish

Next year will be better (Gardener's motto) ;D

[RenishawPhil]

Whats the difference between purple sprouting and calabrese type?

[Digeroo]

PSB takes longer than an Elephant to produce.  But they do fill a gap when there is not much else around. 

Calebrese is green and produces in the summer.  There is also summer purple sprouting but I have never had much success with that.

[anthea]

The explanation about not enough rain for the pumpkin rings true. Thanks.

About the PSB - I sowed a mix of early and late PSB seeds straight into the ground, then transplanted them, so don't know which ones it is that have produced all these leaves. I sowed the same seeds a couple of years ago and yes, the sprouts did take for ever to appear, but I'm sure the plants weren't so incredibly leafy beforehand. So maybe, based on what one of you said, it's about the early PSB not being a very reliable option? But I'l leave the plants in the ground and if they eventually sprout I'll let you know!
thanks for your views

Anthea

[gwynnethmary]

We assumed ours had failed and pulled them all up-oh well, never mind, we have loads of sprouts!