Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli

I can see why this is called "sprouting broccoli." I have all my seed starts going full swing getting ready for the spring vegetable garden, and the Calabrese Sprouting broccoli was the first to sprout, by far, and it sprouted profusely. This seed would make for great micro greens. I plan to allow several broccoli plants to mature and set seed so that I can use them for exactly that purpose. I'm eagerly waiting to see how well the plants do in the garden and how well they produce.

I was really impressed by these. They grew amazingly fast and well considering I overcrowded the pot they were in and kind of forgot about my garden for a few weeks in December when it was really cold. The sprouts are tender and flavorful and cook fast with a quick saute. In addition the greens are flavorful as well and do double duty while you are waiting for sprouts.

I started seeds inside in late Oct. 2017. Got nearly 100% germination, but I wasn’t consistent enough with watering and lack of sunlight caused a lot of leggy seedlings, so I only got about 3 plants out of it, but that’s enough to feed 2 people every couple of days. The florets are tender and completely lacking in sulfuric flavor in this unusually cool Southern California spring. As I continue harvesting, the florets are getting smaller and smaller but they’ve given a consistent supply of food for a month so far and still produce as much as I can eat.

I can't believe the production from this plant here on the Oregon Coast. Had it for dinner again tonight there is more to harvest. I'll never plant traditional Broccoli again..

We are impressed with this variety. Three plants produced more side sprouting heads than we could keep up with; I froze some of the extra. I'm growing it again this year. Does well in sandy loam on the riverbank here in central Wisconsin. Great flavor too. We picked our last heads in early December due to a mild fall season, and this frost-hardy variety of broccoli!