Focus on…Winter brassicas
PEOPLE are always amazed at how long brassicas take to grow, so I’m here to gently remind you that the time to get your Brussels sprouts, kale, sprouting broccoli, winter cauliflower and Savoy cabbage seeds sown is now. It’s tricky to cast your mind forward so far when there’s so many exotic crops that need sowing in April, but you’ll be glad you were so organised in the frosty months.
These hardy veg are the backbone of a cool-season harvest, delivering picking after picking of flavour – and nutrient-packed goodness. They’re all part of the same plant species, Brassica oleracea, and all have distinct juvenile and mature phases – but there the similarity ends.
A cauliflower curd is made up of thousands of immature buds on a short stem, whereas Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli have elongated stems (the individual sprout buttons are squat, enlarged leaf buds, while those of purple sprouting broccoli develop into long flowering sideshoots). Cabbages,
