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Seed for BROCCOLI or CALABRESE, & RAPINI There's a reasonable sort of logic to us grouping these together - they're all brassicas and are mostly eaten cooked. And we couldn't think which categories they would fit in otherwise! Anyways, these are all great and easy varieties that should give you a good crop with no fuss.   Just in case you might get confused as to when to sow and harvest, so we've added a new timetable under each crop. We hope this helps. = main sowing = alternative sowing or extensions ~ HEADING BROCCOLI or CALABRESE~ This year we are offering two strains of Broccoli that grow at different rates. Often seed catalogues don't make a distinction between them, which is why you sometimes find your plants heading when least expected! However, we hope that our explanation of planting times should make things easy.   Green Heading Calabrese This is what we would consider 'normal' broccoli, taking about 120 days from planting out to make large green heads. We recommend this for your maincrop sowing. It is for successional sowing from the end of March to July. The heads will then be ready for harvest from the end of August onwards. Normal 120-day heading broccoli. Order BrGH - 2g (lots and lots of seed - hundreds!) £1.35   Quick Heading Calabrese This slightly unusual variety makes heads about 60-80 days after planting out. The plants will be a lot younger when they head up, so the heads will of course be rather smaller - but it can be very useful for getting in an extra crop. There are two possibilities for sowing: You should start it from mid-March either in situ, or in blocks for transplanting out - and should then get an extra-early crop of heads in May/June. Or, as long as the winter is not too severe, it can be sown in late August or September in an unheated greenhouse or polytunnel, to give you a very early crop at the start of the following year. Of course, in reality, experienced gardeners will know that with all the brassica family, it can - to be honest - be a bit random when they do actually head up, as it depends so much upon temperature and daylength when they are small. But by sowing this one as well as the 'normal' type, you will extend your season, whenever that turns out to be! 'Quick' 60 day heading broccoli. Order BrQH - 2g (lots and lots of seed - hundreds!) £1.12   ~ Seed for PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI ~ Earlier Purple Sprouting Broccoli Should really need no introduction, but this makes a profusion of small purple flower sprouts in spring when fresh veg are most valued. This is the earlier type of Sprouting Broccoli that usually comes ready at the start of March. The nice big leaves are good to eat too, much as you would cook with cauliflower leaves. Order BrEP - (about 500 seed) [CO2] £1.37   Later Purple Sprouting Broccoli This is - as you might perhaps have guessed - the slightly later type of Sprouting Broccoli that usually comes ready a couple of weeks later when the Early has finished. If you have room to grow both varieties, about 10 plants of each will give you an good supply of sprouting broccoli for weeks and weeks! Order BrLP - (about 300 seed ) £1.12     ~ RAPINI (BROCCOLI RAAB) ~ 'What's this then?' you say. . . . well, its easy to grow and loved on the continent. We introduced this a couple of years ago and it was a huge success - everyone seemed to like it! Rapini is used like sprouting broccoli, but comes much more quickly. This isn't just a replacement for broccoli, but a great vegetable in its own right. You can put the leaves and sprouts in salads, or cook them as a green. But unlike broccoli, it's ready to pick in as little as 6 weeks! Cima Di Rapa (40 day strain) HUGELY POPULAR LAST YEAR Unlike normal broccoli, which is from the cabbage family, Broccoli Raab is related to turnip - but grows the same as broccoli (although smaller) & produces delicious sprouts like a slightly spicy flavoured sprouting broccoli. It can be useful as it comes ready when ordinary broccoli isn't available, and is great as a very early spring crop in a polytunnel. The sprouts and leaves are cooked just as broccoli, but thinnings are also excellent in salads or stirfries. Spicy first-early 'broccoli' derived from the Turnip family. Nice raw in salads or cooked. Order BrC4 - 2g seed (lots!) £1.45 TWO SOWING PERIODS: Sow in March under cover, or mid to late summer. Harvest 40 days after sowing. Cima Di Rapa 'San Marzano' (60 days) Following the popularity of the 40-day Rapini above, we have been searching for other varieties for you to try. We think that this one from Italy is well worth growing too. The 40-day variety above is very quick, but this one gives you bigger yields, and at the cost of only a little extra time. We use this for our "maincrop" - its great in salads at the start of the season, and cooked as sprouts & leaves later on. Definitely a different flavour from normal sprouting broccoli, and so much easier to grow! Spicy maincrop 'broccoli' derived from the Turnip family. Nice raw in salads or cooked. Order BrSM - 2g seed (lots!) £1.40     Saving Brassica Seed: Here's Kate processing some Pak Choi. You do need to make sure they aren't crossed with anything, as many of the brassicas (cabbages, cauliflowers etc) will cross with each other very readily. Flower stalks from a good-sized population are hung up to dry, then broken open over a bowl (or old baby bath in this case!). The bits of pod are screened out with a sieve or a soil riddle - but you can instead winnow them off in a breeze pretty easily if you prefer. Seed-saving instructions are included with your seeds, so you can do this yourself. And of course, seed-saving is only possible because these are all real, non-hybrid varieties.