Broccoli is one of the most nutritious and versatile vegetables you can grow, and there’s a wealth of independent online advice to help you succeed. Here, we’ve brought together our favourite video tutorials, expert articles and Instagram posts to help you harvest delicious homegrown broccoli almost all year round.
Whether you prefer to sow your own broccoli seeds or order broccoli plants, these expert tips will help you produce a plentiful crop that’s so much tastier than anything you can buy in the supermarket.
This article was reviewed by the Suttons horticultural team and updated on 30 April 2024.
Contents
- What’s the difference between purple sprouting broccoli and calabrese?
- Best advice on sowing broccoli seeds
- Best advice on planting out broccoli
- Best advice on dealing with broccoli pests and diseases
- Best advice on harvesting broccoli
What’s the difference between purple sprouting broccoli and calabrese?
Image: Broccoli Seeds – Purple Sprouting Continuity Mix from Suttons
Broccoli belongs to the brassica family, along with cauliflower, cabbages and kale. The main types of broccoli are purple sprouting and calabrese, and the distinction between the two is skilfully explained by Andrew over at Life on Pig Row. In brief, calabrese has thick stalks and large green heads and can crop from late winter through to autumn, while purple sprouting – what some people call true broccoli – has thinner stalks and smaller heads and grows much more slowly, taking many months from seed to harvest.
Geoff Stebbings, AKA The Biking Gardener, explains that calabrese is an annual plant whereas purple sprouting broccoli is a biennial. Calabrese produces its single head more quickly – in about three months from seed. The multi-headed sprouting types are much slower growing, but both are welcome additions to the veg patch, according to Geoff. Read his full article for more info.
Best advice on sowing broccoli seeds
Image: Broccoli ‘Green Magic’ from Suttons
A comprehensive video guide to sowing and growing the cold-resistant purple sprouting broccoli by ‘no dig’ gardener Charles Dowding explains that choosing the right variety is the key to timing your harvest, so always read the small print on your seed packet carefully. If calabrese is your broccoli of choice, this video from Charles looks at how to sow in winter for an early harvest, followed by a later soing and summer crop.
Jack, of Jack Wallington Garden Design, has plenty of sowing tips in his very informative post on how to grow organic purple sprouting broccoli. Rather than using seed trays he suggests popping one or two of the largish seeds into pots of peat-free compost as soon as the frosts are gone, growing them in a sheltered spot outdoors or, in colder areas, in a polytunnel, greenhouse or on a windowsill until the weather warms up.
In his excellent guide on how to grow calabrese, John at Allotment & Gardens explains that calabrese resents root disturbance, so “sowing is best done under glass in early spring in modules or pots.” Seedlings should then be gently planted out at 45cm to 60cm apart in June-July. “Cover with netting to prevent attack from birds and insects,” he adds.
The timing of your crop is a key consideration when you’re sowing broccoli seeds. Jessie from @plot_37 posted a picture of the beautiful broccoli she harvested for her lunch in February. A huge fan of purple sprouting varieties, she resolved to make an earlier spring sowing next year so she can also enjoy a harvest in December.
Best advice on planting out broccoli
Image: Broccoli Seeds ‘F1 Bellaverde Sibsey’ from Suttons
Broccoli grows happily in a mixed bed. Naturally JB’s video demonstrates how to plant purple sprouting broccoli along the centre of a rectangular bed in the allotment, along with other brassicas and some salad leaves. He buries the broccoli plants into nice deep holes so they don’t get blown over, and adds a bit of blood, fish and bone to nourish them over winter.
Richard at YouTube channel Garden on the moors prefers to wait until his broccoli plugs have grown into much larger plants before he moves them outside. He explains that waiting a bit longer allows his plants to develop a really strong and healthy root system, beautifully demonstrated in his calabrese-growing video guide.
Have your broccoli seedlings gone a bit leggy? Don’t worry, says Jase over at YouTube channel Leaton – Our road to self sufficiency. Simply move them out of their seed trays and plant them more deeply in their new pots so their leggy stems are submerged. Brassicas don’t mind being deep in their pots, he says.
Best advice on how to deal with broccoli pests and diseases
Image: Butterfly protection cage from Suttons
All brassicas are prime targets for cabbage white butterflies and cabbage moths. To protect your broccoli plants without using chemicals, Liz Zorab of Byther Farm demonstrates a simple way to make protective tunnels for them using mesh, hose-piping and canes.
Good crop rotation is the way to keep club root at bay, according to Pumpkin Beth in her guide to growing broccoli. Started by spores in the soil, it damages root hairs, causes malformed stems and weakens the plant. Beth says club root is most common in heavily cultivated ground, like allotments, but keeping your soil at a pH of 6-7 will also lessen the risk.
Best advice on harvesting broccoli
Image: Broccoli ‘Stromboli’ (Calabrese) from Suttons
In his comprehensive guide to growing broccoli, Simon at Garden of Eaden confirms it’s best to cut the central spear of your calabrese first – when it’s well formed, but before the individual flowers start to open. He reckons side shoots can then be picked for another four to six weeks.
One of the best things about purple sprouting broccoli for Jason Mellers at @jays_permacultureallotment is that each plant gives you several harvests! All the florets appear in late March when there’s not much else going on in the patch – “What’s not to love?” he says.
Martina Holgersson, of @simplygrowfood recommends eating the whole of your broccoli plant, not just the tasty head. Showing off her delicious side shoots, she advises leaving the whole plant in the ground after you harvest to take advantage of the side shoots, leaves and stems that are all delicious in any broccoli dish. Leave a plant to flower too, she adds, to decorate salads with the pretty blooms!
Did you know that one purple sprouting broccoli plant can give you several years of harvests? Kim Stoddart says to cut back your brassica plants after spring so that they stay nice and leafy, putting on healthy growth to crop the following winter. Visit The Climate Change Garden to find out which other veg patch plants are potential perennials.
With such a wealth of tips from the experts, it’s easy to achieve a succession of delicious calabrese and purple sprouting broccoli harvests. Try growing brassicas from plug plants if you’re too late to sow seeds. It’s a great shortcut to success!
Lead image: Broccoli (Sprouting) Continuity Collection from Suttons
See expert contributors here
- Andrew Oldham, gardening blogger, columnist winner of GMG’s Gardening Columnist of the Year 2022.
- Geoff Stebbings, Kew Gardens trained gardener, author, journalist and blogger.
- Charles Dowding, No-dig gardening pioneer, horticulturalist, author.
- Jack Wallington, RHS qualified landscape designer.
- John Harrison, Allotment blogger, winner of Grow Your Own’s ‘Great British Growing Awards’ 2015, author and garden writer.
- Jessie Sheffield, Allotment gardener, YouTube content creator and influencer
- JB, Allotment holder, gardening content creator.
- Richard, Cornwall-based gardener, YouTuber and content creator.
- Jase, Gardening content creator and YouTuber.
- Liz Zorab, Award-winning blogger, YouTuber, gardener and author. Winner of GMG’s Vlog of the Year 2022.
- Beth Otway, Horticulturist, garden writer.
- Simon Eade, Horticulture (Commercial), FdSc, garden writer and YouTuber.
- Jason Mellars @jays_permacultureallotment, Permaculture allotment holder and gardening content creator.
- Martina Holgersson @simplygrowfood, Gardener and content creator.
- Kim Stoddart, Editor of Amateur Gardening magazine, gardening journalist and co-author of The Climate Change Garden.
