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[Phoebe]

Does anyone know when I should I pick this ?

 

Alan Titchmarsh says when the florets go purple and before they flower but they seem to come through purple; the ones I have are tiny but purple. And how do you tell if something is going to flower tomorrow ??!!!

 

I have n't grown this before, and not sure if I will next year as it takes up room for about 9 months; on the other hand, it is nice to harvest something at this time of year before everything else has even started

[Tiggy]

I pick mine as soon as they are big enough to eat, it depends on the variety if they come through green & change to purple or grow purple (mine have sprouted purple)

[redbug]

Think if you don't pick them when purple fairly quickly they soon go to seed. But when picked purple more come to be picked.

 

Pam

[Phoebe]

redbug said

 

Think if you don't pick them when purple fairly quickly they soon go to seed. But when picked purple more come to be picked.

 

Its that thats worrying me ! After waiting so long, I don't want it to stop producing.

However, I guess I'll pick whenever big enough to eat, as suggested. Interestingly, it goes green when cooked (I've never bought the purple variety from shops either).

 

thanks for the advice. Now all we need are some dry days to get the rest of the garlic, and the shallots in......

[chickencam]

Pick it when young and tender and the buds are still tightly closed. There tend to less of the first pieces and they tend to be bigger and more leafy, they are then followed by loads of smaller pieces.

 

I love PSB but I am about the only one in the family that does, it has a lovely sweet taste backed up by the stronger taste like you get from the outer leaves of spring greens

[Phoebe]

Do you eat the leaves then ? cos you don't on "green broccoli" do you ?

I am sounding awfully thick here, sorry !

[chickencam]

What you will find if the broccoli is growing vigorously the first pieces with ave quite a good sized head - nowhere near as big as other broccoli - and this head will be on a stem that is about 3-4 inches long and it will have dark green/purple leaves around it. They are really delicious if you like dark greens which I do, they are better lightly steamed rather than boiled because they tend to go soggy very quickly when boiled.

 

One year we had so many really tender stems that we ate them like asparagus with melted butter and shaved parmesan, yum We haven't done so well in recent years though.

 

I am off to our allotment to check the progress on ours, the pigeons had a real go at them during the cold spell and they are roughly covered with nets now but I don't think the tops will be much good we will have to wait for the side shoots.

 

The more you harvest it the more shoots come but they do get smaller and smaller until they aren't worth picking anymore, then it will run to flower and it is time to pull them up.

[Phoebe]

thats brilliant, thanks very much for the advice; much clearer now on what I am doing

[chickencam]

I looked at mine yesterday and it is a bit of a sorry sight, I think only the side shoots are going to be worth having, they are not ready yet.

[littleredhen]

Mine still has nothing resembling florets yet, just leaves (and they are a bit the worse for wear!), is there still hope of it producing some or do I just give it up as bad job? I have never grown PSB either and it was a bit of an impulse buy (as are so many things these days).

[Matthew]

Mine still has nothing resembling florets yet, just leaves (and they are a bit the worse for wear!), is there still hope of it producing some or do I just give it up as bad job? I have never grown PSB either and it was a bit of an impulse buy (as are so many things these days).

 

Its still a bit early... March is when its at its peak and its been very cold lately

 

I have one showing a floret the rest are strong healthy plants next to where I had great cabbages and brussels so am just being patient

[chickencam]

It is still early especially given the cold season, but once it starts it will be hard to keep up with it if you have vigorous plants

[littleredhen]

Thanks for the advice, I will be patient and see what they produce rather than writing them off too early.

[prudance]

Glad you asked that question LittleRedHen. I'm in exactly the same position. Was going to rip them out at the weekend. I'll give them a reprieve. Hard to tell exactly what I've got though because not all the plants I bought at the garden centre grew up to be what it said on their label. My dwarf french beans were actually dwarf runners!

[Phoebe]

No, I'm sorry - we have tried this boiled, steamed, sauted in garlic and sweated in butter, heads, stalks and leaves.

 

No-one likes it indeed its worse than green broccoli, and I don't like that much

Apologies to all those who like PSB, but I am not convinced.

 

On the upside, the hens love a bunch of PSB leaves tied up in their run. That disappears in no time, so there will no problem in getting rid of the plants !

 

Thanks for trying though