Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Brassica oleracea longata
This popular allotment vegetable grows similarily to traditional head forming brocolli (Calabrese) but it produces an abundance of smaller heads to harvest over a much longer period, so is a much more effective use of space then calabrese for home growers. Delicately flavoured and winter hardy, this brocolli originates in Italy but has become increasingly popular in the UK.
When to sow: April - May
Requirements: Sprouting Brocolli does best in full sun but tolerates partial shade. Soil needs to drain well and fertile for this hungry crop to produce well. Netting may be required in some gardens to protect from pigeon damage and cabbage whites.
Harvesting: Snip off the spears or flowerheads as they appear in early spring to enjoy them lightly steamed, fried or roasted. Taking the central head first encourages more shoots to follow.
Saving Seed: Isolation - Brassicas (in this case B. oleracea) readily cross pollinate with the help of insects (the family includes broccoli, brussels, cabbage, kale etc). Because they cross so easily, it is best to allow only one type of B. oleracea to flower at any one time. Growing for seed saving - A large gene pool is needed when saving brassica seed. Allow at least 10 (preferably 20) healthy plants to flower if you plan to save seed - bear in mind, they do get big when in flower so allow plenty of space. Allow the seed pods to form on the plant and begin to turn brown. Cut whole branches as they turn brown but before seeds start to drop and bring them inside to hang and dry fully. Processing - Once fully dry crumble the seeds from their casings and pick large pieces of chaff out, don't worry about cleaning them too thoroughly though, we have a seed cleaning machine here and can do the rest. From 10 plants, you should have TONNES of seed, so share with seed networks, family, friends and keep some back for sprouting and microgreens.
How to return seed: Please send back at least 1/2 cup of seed or more to the network. Label with the variety, date and your name and contact. Send to: Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, London N6 5JF
See this video on how to rogue brassicas for seed saving
Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 3 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just three packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.*
*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us if this is the case.
If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.
