PSB

[Annpan]

I thought our purple sprouting brocolli would come through in December January and see us through the lean months with some fresh homegrown goodies.

Today I was hanging out my washing (my washing line is right beside the 'alotment' area of my garden and I noticed some weeds growing in the PSB plot I walked over to pull them out and low and behold it was not weeds but the brocolli that was flowering

After a quick and a ever so girly 'woooooooooooop' I realised that we already are producing loads (courgettes, onions, carrots, beetroot, swede all did well this year) but now I will have nowt by the time January comes

I don't know when the seeds were started - they were planted by my neighbour's Dad, who has since passed away. (I will of course pass loads onto them)

Is it normal for the PBS to be producing so early?
Do they have a long season?
What am I going to eat in January? (I knew we weren't going to live on just brocolli, but it would have been nice to have a few meals a week based on it)
How much should one plant produce? (I think I planted 9 plants )

[Shirley]

I could be wrong, but I think there are autumn ones as well as spring flowering. Enjoy!

[Odsox]

I think it all depends where you live Ann.
When I lived in Kent my purple sprouting matured at the "proper" time.
Then when I moved here (no snow or frost), I carried on the same with the sowing and planting. The result was the Late PSB matured in September when I was still overwhelmed with runner beans.
On the plus side they did keep on producing spears all winter until about the end of April.
I don't grow PSB now as I have reduced my garden area and can't afford the space they need for a whole year, I grow calabrese instead.

[Annpan]

Well I planted out the seedlings in late May (I think) We get heavy and lengthy frosts that start around mid-December and last through to February.

As I say, I don't know what variety or when the seeds were planted but thanks for the pointers... I would like to think they will keep producing right through the winter, fingers crossed.

[Millymollymandy]

I am expecting mine to be sprouting about March/april hopefully during the lean times!

I did try the summer PSB but I didn't get a single edible spear because summer is usually warm to hot and they bolt of course. However the only time I tried the spring version before it was hot in april and they bolted....... Still it is a lot cooler here in Brittany in April/May than south east France so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

[Silver Ether]

mines started to flower too and I expected it to be later hohum ... mind you I am surprised its survived after the caterpillar attack while we were on hols ...

[Peggy Sue]

We've grown a couple of different types, some sewn in April and crop in March/April, some sewn later and crop earlier! It's a variety thing I think.
Last year was brill fro sprouting but I'm not having the same success this year sadly

[Annpan]

I have a further question...

Some of my PSB is flowering very pretty yellow flowers, am I supposed to eat the spears before they flower? is the fact that they are flowering a problem (TBH I always thought that the green/purple buds were the flowers, I never realised they would open up.)

[Odsox]

No, the purple bits are the unopened flower buds (as you now know)
You can of course eat the flowers as well, although the flavour and texture are no as good.

[Peggy Sue]

I found them very woody once they flowered, but cut them anyway you should get more