Flower sprouts

[Obelixx]

I saw these things on Countryfie last week and, lo and behold, spotted some in the supermarket the next day so decided to try them.  I canna thole a sprout but love other brassicas and these "flower" sprouts are delicious so I've decided to grow them.  Marshall's and Suttons have seeds.

Thing is, cos I hate sprouts I've never grown them and these things are grown the same way so anyone got any tips on sowing, planting depth and spacing and growing on for a successful crop that doesn't blow?  I have very fertile, alkaline loam soil and plenty of garden compost.   

[Obelixx]

[Digeroo]

There are three varieties so the packets tend to contain a mixture.  So they should crop over a longer period.

http://www.flower-sprout.com/index.php 

Gives all sorts of info about them but not how to grow them.

http://marksvegplot.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/flower-sprouts.html

[lezelle]

Hi Ya, A friend on our site told me about flower sprouts and said they were nice and tasty to eat. They were impressed with them. I have decided to have ago at growing them aswell. I didn't like to eat sprouts either but I found growing my own and not boiling the life out of them they are tasty and I love the taste now. Happy Gardening

[earlypea]

There are three varieties so the packets tend to contain a mixture.

They sure do!  I only had room for 3 alleged flower sprout petit posy mix - I got one very tall curly green kale, one strange thing that died and a sort of flower sprout, but nothing like from waitrose - much darker, purpler and tight-sprouted.

I was thinking of ordering one of the individual packets from Johnnies seeds in the US (3 types of flower sprout) - maybe I stand a better chance of getting something standard.

I actually like sprouts, but these are nice too - unusually nutty is true.

[Obelixx]

Thanks for the links Digeroo.  I'd found the first one but not the blog.

His flower sprouts were a lot redder than the ones I've been buying which are purple and green and more like the ones in the Marshalls catalogue.

I shall give them a go and see what happens.

[galina]

http://marksvegplot.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/flower-sprouts-we-finally-get-to-taste.html

However the blogger isn't very impressed with them at all in the end and won't grow again.  He said that value for space is very low. They only rate because they are available when not much else is (apart from kale and brussels obviously).  I must say they look like blown sprouts rather than a unique new vegetable. 

I wonder whether their flavour is unique enough to distinguish them from blown sprouts or from young kale side shoots in early spring?  And are they as difficult to wash prior to cooking as blown sprouts?  Are we meant to let them grow bigger than in the blogger's photo?   

[Obelixx]

They taste better than sprouts (but I loathe them anyway) and better than curly kale or purple kale which I find a bit tough by this time of year.

I expect they can be paired with faster crops such as fancy salad leaves to maximise yields per square inch   I've never bothered with that equation - more interested in growing for flavour, or what I can't buy in the shops or what is expensive to buy - fancy salad leaves, soft fruits, oriental leaves, cavolo nero, PSB and so on.

[Vinlander]

I wonder whether their flavour is unique enough to distinguish them from blown sprouts or from young kale side shoots in early spring?  And are they as difficult to wash prior to cooking as blown sprouts? 

My answer to these questions is you may get what you want or what is implied as an advantage - but I doubt it very, very much. And anyway, every brussels variety produces blown sprouts that taste different from every other blown brussels.

I would go further and say that anyone who hates the taste of sprouts this much should try Rubine. They taste even more different and what's more they aren't as stable a selection as normal sprouts - maybe they were crossed with red cabbage fairly recently, and maybe this 'problem' will diminish as they are bred on... but at present they produce more 'blown' sprouts than any other variety I've grown - and the blown ones do taste even milder than the buttons - but they need steaming unless you are prepared to eat them barely cooked (or they boil to mush). They do give relatively poorer yields too - but the plants look nice.

I must say it is totally bonkers to buy special seed and go to such trouble grow something that is basically a brussels gone wrong.

Almost as mad as paying a super-premium price for cloudy beer that tastes of yeast (just like homebrew gone wrong - except it only costs 20p to brew a pint as bland as what they will charge you £6 for - maybe 21p to allow for the cost of lemon peel etc.).

There's another equally loopy example I could give you but I'm still suffering from a week of hangovers (not dodgy homebrew either - that problem lies in the distant past) - I'll add it later when it comes to me.

Cheers.

[Digeroo]

Since they have been bred by Tozer which is a uk company, I am not sure that buying them from the US will have any particular advantage. 

One of the  problems of mixed packets of seeds it that one tends to use the strongest seedlings which then filters out some of the varieties.

I think I might give them a try.  Something else during the winter is a good thing.  They had them in Lidl last week, might try them before I bother with planting them.  But I can easily pop a few between the broad beans.  I do not wait for them to die down, I just plant between and then take the seed from the beans later.

I do not think they taste like sprouts or kale.  It is proving popular in the shops.

[theothermarg]

OK I grew these last year, got the seeds from Kings (get a lotty discount  ) and I really love them (and all things brassica)
They grew huge (higher nets this year) and started early autumn and are still at it  .even one I thought was finished and lay on the ground to put in compost bin (well aright I missed) has sprouted more little flower sprouts (on the stove cooking as we speak)
So yes a full recommendation (but only if you like sprouts and kale, why would you grow them otherwise?)
marg

[earlypea]

Since they have been bred by Tozer which is a uk company, I am not sure that buying them from the US will have any particular advantage.

I know they are bred here by Tozer, but for some reason we only get the choice of 'petit posy mix' whereas if you buy them from Johhny's seeds you get the actual individual early, middle, late varieties which I would prefer.  Especially as I only have room for very few I'd like to be able to crop them decently at the same time.

They don't taste like kale, they are very mild and nutty. This may not be such a good thing health-wise, as Vinlander's previous post from New Scientist.  I find sprouts are very mild and unsprouty in modern varieties, couldn't compare them to kale either.

I would say there are some problems with it.  It's very large and hungry and mine are difficult to wash as this and another lacy red brassica, Redbor seems to have attracted a deluge of the mealy aphids.  I saw the same on the plot opposite last year.  None of the green brassicas are affected.

It does taste nice and distinct though, so worth growing a few.

[Obelixx]

Had some last night lightly steamed with a bit of butter and cumin seeds for seasoning last night along with a beef rendang curry.  Delish.

Even if I only get one meal from each stem, a packet of seeds will still work out cheaper than buying packs from the supermarket

Looks like I need to build a net cage for them then - and for the other brassicas as this last season the birds did not manage their job of eating all the caterpillars as thoroughly as they usually do.  I shall use insect screen mesh which I hope will be fine enough to keep out the aphids too.