Just a quick post from me this week, as I have so much preparation to do in the veg patch which I feel I have left rather late in the season, and then I remind myself that I will most likely not plant out for another 5 or 6 weeks, in late May which is my preferred time to plant, so it’s totally fine.
Anyway, I did whizz into the veg patch at lunchtime today to harvest a few bits including some purple sprouting broccoli. I planted it out in September, and it started sprouting in late February. Just as it started to sprout, the pigeons got to it and tore the leaves right back to the veins. Because I was so busy neglecting the veg patch, I didn’t do anything to help the poor plants and just left them there, figuring that I’d chuck them on the compost pile one weekend when I felt more motivated. I never felt motivated (I blame the weather) and the plants have remained, and done exceptionally well!
In spite of not having any leaves to speak of, the plants have steadily produced broccoli for me to harvest. It has been great! So, the moral of this story is that if your broccoli plants get eaten by pigeons when they’re beginning to sprout, don’t give up on them. Just leave them to it and hope for the best.
Another side note – I really love growing broccoli over the winter and having these beautiful purple beauties to harvest in March and April – well worth adding to your list for this year’s growing!