purple sprouting broccoli

Purple sprouting broccoli is one of those great reasons for 'growing your own'. The major supermarkets offer 'broccoli' throughout the year even though its season  in our English soil is June to October. The 'broccoli' we buy in the supermarkets is in fact calabrese - another member of the brassica family. It is a short plant that is easy to grow, has a good flavour and freezes well.
True broccoli is pictured - purple sprouting broccoli. It is pungent, having a tasty, peppery flavour and is very different to the 'broccoli' available to supermarket shoppers. The mature plants are 1.5metres high and need staking to stop them falling over, They need netting to provide against their nemesis - the wood pigeon. Its florets are harvested around Mothers Day and the season has already peaked due to the warm weather we have had recently. Just boil in a little water for a delicious vegetable.

natural protection against caterpillars

Now we have planted our overwintering early purple sprouting broccoli and brussels sprouts, it is time to use the bare earth beneath the little plants.
Research shows that there is less infestation from large white (cabbage white) butterfly caterpillars if the ground beneath the plant is under sown.

Trefoil is a native wild flower. It is a member of the legume (pea/bean) family and so enriches the soil with nutrients as it grows.
It is also the food plant of the small blue butterfly.

So, a marriage made in heaven!

Caterpillars of a pretty and non damaging butterfly benefit while the caterpillars of one of the worst of the garden pests are deterred.

The ground cover will also benefit other invertebrates and prove a happy hunting ground for hedgehogs and toads. If the trefoil flowers, late flying insects will have a snack stop too.

I broadcast seed beneath the plants and then watered in.

grow brussels sprouts

I can't grow Brussels Sprouts!!

Every year, I put in the preparation and anticipate a steaming bowl of sprouts with my Christmas dinner.

Every year, for the last few years I have had no crop and felt dismal. I fed the plants to my bantams.

Imagine my excitement, after Santa had been this year, when he left me a bulb planter! Let me explain the part that I hope the bulb planter will play in my search for the perfect seasonal Sprout.

Brussels like a fertile, very firm ground in which to grow.

I trod the ground down last week and gave it a good jumping on today.

I then bored holes in the surface with my new bulb planter and planted my baby Brussels plants and firmed them with my fingers. My bulb planter allowed me to create planting holes without loosening the soil around the holes. I have to be firm about this.

I then planted my baby Brussels and then finished with organic fertiliser, a good handful of lime and a generous watering.

And now wait until Christmas!

cauliflowers and kohl rabi

The little cauliflower and kohl rabi plants are ready to go out.

Or more accurately, we are ready for them to go out!

This is the time of year when we have lots of seedlings growing in the greenhouse and we need space. So, after a little 'hardening off' our plants were put into their new home.

I watered the ground copiously before planting due to the exceptionally dry conditions. Then, a trowel hole dug, plants a trowel length apart and firmed in.

We finished them with a good helping of lime and eggshells that had been collected over the winter.

The final step was to provide protection with netting and hoops against the attentions of the famished rabbits.

popular calabrese

The easiest brassica member to grow is the Italian calabrese - sold in shops as broccoli.

Calabrese is not tolerant of cold winters and so is planted in late spring to crop by high summer or early autumn. We will plant another batch in a month or so to extend the season.

The soil has been heavily limed to provide conditions that the cabbage family like. These plants were grown in modules in the greenhouse and planted under netting protection.

They are popular with pigeons and rabbits and will be pecked and munched if we don't spoil the fun. The netting will not stop butterflies and their offspring. The nasty job of picking off caterpillars is a treat for later on!

attracting caterpillars to Brussels sprouts

Brussels sprouts are overwintering members of the brassica (cabbage) family.

They like good fertile soil and firm ground.

They will grow on through the autumn and then produce their 'sprouts' (compact tiny cabbages with a spicy flavour) around time for Christmas dinner.

Our mistake in the past has been to plant the young plants into insufficiently firm ground. The result has been leggy plants with loose, open 'sprouts' that feed the caterpillars of large white butterflies in the summer and hens in the winter!

So, this year, I decided to make some changes. I gave the earth a good stamping before planting. And
I also broadcast trefoil seed beneath the little transplants.

The trefoil does three things:

1. as a legume, it will increase the soil's fertility and this will benefit the Brussels plants
2. it is also claimed that an understory of green foliage reduces the contrast between the normally brown earth and green leaves of the Brussels plants, reducing the ability of pests to find the Brussels with consequent reduced damage by insects.
3. trefoil is the larval food plant of the common blue butterfly. By using trefoil, we may have persuaded a common blue butterfly passing earlier in the season to lay some eggs.
   

I know that it may seem perverse to complain about the caterpillars of one butterfly species whilst actively trying to attract the caterpillars of another species to come and feast. But my mission is to make my plot as productive for me as possible whilst making it as attractive to wildlife as I can. Common Blues will not harm my Brussels and I might just play a small part in helping one of our prettiest little insects.

Whatever happens I hope that my Brussels will benefit!

stop the pigeon!

A manic run up to Christmas, two weeks of flu over the Christmas and New Year holiday and then two weeks recuperating!

So, it's holiday time for pigeons!

I had constructed a cane and netting cathedral, dediacted to the protection of early purple sprouting broccoli. The winter winds had blown it away and the pigeons got even fatter at my expense!

So, here goes, an industrial quality response was needed. The same canes and hoops were used, but flimsy netting has been replaced by scaffolding netting all wired together and held down with bricks.

Do your worst, pigeons of Nottingham!!!!!!!

protection against pigeons

Much less frequently seen than the shrink-wrapped 'broccoli' you see in the supermarket, is the true broccoli - purple sprouting broccoli. This variety flowers in the spring and the florets are strong flavoured and peppery. Gorgeous!

But, purple sprouting broccoli has more admirers than me. Oh yes! Its flowers and leaves are the favourite nibble of wood pigeons. So, enter Protection Man in his Sustainability Mobile!

Here he has constructed a flimsy structure of children's broken hoola hoops stuffed into buddleia prunings, draped with reused plastic netting. Full marks for sustainability Protection Man, but will it stay upright if a wood pigeon sneezes?

Okay smart pants - only time will tell...

Anyway, the idea is that the plants will continue to grow some way beneath the netting so that the big, fat pigeons (who are the enemy) cannot land on top and have a nice rest whilst fattening themselves.

calabrese

Just a note to say how well calabrese is cropping.

It is the most-reliable of all brassicas and delivers large florets in its first flush and then second and subsequent crops of smaller florets.

The freezer gets quite full because they do freeze well.

The plants are not frost hardy but the series of mild winters has seen the plants left in the soil until early spring for the past few years. Although by the autumn the main cropping season has ended, the plans then have the virtue of dissipating the heavy winter rains. Their roots hold the soil together, reducing nutrient loss. And they make a delicious tea for the three princesses who hold sway down the garden!

king kohl?

Lisa grows broccoli rabe successfully in the hot southern states.
I wonder if it is the same as kohl rabi that we grow in wet England?

This is the first year we've tried kohl rabi. The plants were brought on in the greenhouse and then planted out in the spring. They've not needed any special treatment and have produced these rounded vegetables.

We peeled, sliced and stir-fried ours. I think they will need a lot of extra flavouring adding. As predicted, they taste and have the texture of the swollen stems of broccoli.

As I said in my previous post about kohl rabi, this is what passes for food for us vegetarians!!!

what's in a name?

The health-giving benefits of 'broccoli' are reported constantly. This week there were claims of its benefit in combating the onset of diabetes.

All this health, and sooo easy to grow in a reasonable summer.

Let's get the confusion out of the way first though. The vegetable that they refer to as 'broccoli' is, to be exact calabrese. Broccoli is similar but with a spicier flavour and available for a more limited period during the year - typically April.

Calabrese are sown into pots in the greenhouse and brought on until they can be planted outside. They're planted about 30cm apart and produce a single large floret. This is the 'broccoli' bought in the greengrocers and supermarkets.

If left after harvesting, the plants will produce a second flush of smaller florets. Calabrese is a summer plant and is said not to last through cold winters.

Successional sowing is a good idea. Our other bed of calabrese has just produced a large crop that we have frozen. The bed pictured was planted about six weeks later, and is looking strong. The netting provides protection from rabbits and wood pigeons.

The other enemy of calabrese is the large white butterfly, Watch out for caterpillars!

Calabrese is a reliable performer in the brassica ensemble! Highly recommended.

neeps and tatties?

This is a great time of year in the garden. And this is a good gardening year so far.

We have had frequent showers and some sunshine, making for excellent growing conditions.

Here, our summer turnips are bulking up nicely.

They were direct sown in spring and then thinned to give each little plant room to grow.

They had a sprinkling of organic fertiliser to get them going and then generous rain and some sunshine to help them on their way.

They will be picked in the next couple of weeks. I hope they accompany new potatoes and vegetarian haggis. Neeps and tatties. I do hope so.

some like it sweet

Calabrese do well for us, unlike many other members of the brassica family.

Sown in the spring and brought on in the greenhouse, the infant plants go out under netting protection. Rabbits and wood pigeons love 'em!

Less easy to combat are the enemies from down below: the slugs. This year's wheeze is to put crushed eggshells around each plant in the hope that the spikiness will deter the slimy enemy.

Our calabrese have new friends this year. Tasting like the sweetened stems of calabrese are kohlrabi. Mmmm. Feeling hungry? This is what passes for food for us vegetarians! We're giving them a try this year.

Brassicas like their soil sweet, hence the dusting of lime.

purple reign

For a short while, the tall broccoli plants lord it over the garden. Big and strong and robed with netting, they are now yielding fat flower spikes that taste good - and look good.
Who is to say that the flowers of the exotic blueberry are more beautiful than those of the prosaic broccoli - well not this gardener.

The broccoli was sown way back last year and then planted out into a bed that had hosted field beans. The ground was quite firm and the broccoli plants grew through the summer, autumn and winter . They have had to overcome caterpillars, white fly and pigeon attack and are now yielding big strong florets.

The first crop is of shoots that are robust and around five inches (13 cms)long. Later florets will be smaller but all have a stronger, more peppery, earthy taste than the 'broccoli' sold in supermarkets that gardeners grow as calabrese. Broccoli also has the advantage of being truly seasonal - calabrese can be purchased from the supermarket shrink-wrapped throughout the year.

Both calabrese and broccoli are among the easiest members of the brassica (cabbage) family to grow.

stop the pigeon

Planted out in the summer, purple sprouting broccoli should be ready to harvest now.

The plant sold in supermarkets throughout the year as 'broccoli' is actually another, similar member of the cabbage or brassica family called calabrese.

True broccoli is a tall plant and the florets appear in March. They are tangy and have a much better flavour than calabrese.

Like most brassicas, they are loved by wood pigeons. The wonderful iridescence around the neck of the wood pigeon is attributable to his high intake of the vitamin packed broccoli florets he has been eating.

So, netting is a must to prevent damage.

Or, you could net as I did. And provide a superb landing platform for flocks of pigeons who can sit comfortably and peck my hard won crops away at their leisure.

Makes mental note to raise netting to avoid damage in future.

Reliable calabrese

Continuing the flowers in the garden theme that has developed over the past few days......

Calabrese is probably the easiest of the brassica family to grow. In the UK it is sold in supermarkets as 'brocolli' - but real brocolli is a taller member of the cabbage family and has lots of separate flower spikes. It is frost tolerant and is usually harvested in spring. Calabrese is tender and does not tolerate frosts. In appearance its florets probably most closely resemble cauliflower.

Calabrese seeds are sown in spring and take around twelve weeks to come to maturity. Short, compact plants are produced with a central 'tree' of florets. The floret is cut and the plants may then be composted or fed to the hens. Alternatively, if left, the plant will then give a second crop of smaller florets. Successional sowings should ensure that there is abundant calabrese from June to October. Surpluses freeze well.

Calabrese has always been the most reliable part of our brassica garden rotation. Germination is easy and the growing plants need very little cosseting. Rabbits love it and so protection is required.

Stalwarts of Leapool Allotments (where we garden) tell us this has been the worst gardening year since the allotments were opened in 1947. Needless to say that even reliable calbrese has been very disappointing this year.