Romanesco Broccoli

[KevinM67]

I always plant Calabrese in the plot every year - but never really had any great success (bolting being the main problem, despite my best efforts).

Romanesco Broccoli obviously looks fantastic - but is it any easier/harder to grow than normal Broccoli ??

I've never tasted it either - does it also taste as good as it looks ??

Thanks for any help

[shona_b]

Personnally I would go for purple sprouting broccolli instead of romenescu (or however its spelt). I was given plants last year (and the year before) from a kind neighbour and they did produce varying sized heads. Unfortunately I am not keen on the flavour - its not broccolli and its not cauliflower but some weird inbetween taste! I have had the best success with PSB (and white sprouting) but always grown the over winter variety. This year I have some autumn cropping variety in so we will see the results in a few months!

[JoeDaStudd]

I bought got a load of romanesco seeds, but never got around to planting them after I heard they need a lot of room.
Personally they are my preferred broccoli/cauliflower head and buy them whenever I can.
Like shona says they are a in-between taste, but for me the texture is amazing and holds up great even if you overcook them. They make possibly the best cauliflower/broccoli cheese can ever get.

Now that I think about it I'm going to have plant a few when I get back as long as I can find the room.

[Pinfold Plotter]

I grew some last year. I had some for Christmas dinner (together with surprise hitchhiking worm - but that's another story) and they were ok, but the ones that stood over winter tasted bitter and for the size of the plant it wasn't worth the yield.

[WPG]

I grew some last year too, and have about a dozen planted this year. I read somewhere that they're difficult to grow, but personally I haven't found them harder than any other brassicas. I liked the taste, bit like a crunchy nutty cauliflower. The lime green colour and geometric shape are very eye-catching, though as other have said the plants do take up quite a lot of ground.

[Vince G]

Grew romanescos last year and they're looking good this year too. They're more like caulis than calabrese to grow really, so if you find you can grow caulis well, give them a go. Agree with the comments about space - in the space you need for 3 caulis/roms, you could probably grow 2 purple sprouting broccoli or 2 brussels, from which you would get a hell of a lot more meals than the 1 meal you get off a cauli or rom, but if space is not a problem, give them a go.

[kathyd]

Hi Kevan. We love our broccoli, and I've grown calabrese along with summer sprouting broccoli this year - and there's hardly any difference in the size of the heads! Lol . Some of the calabrese bolted like your's, and those that haven't have really tiny heads. But if you cut the head and leave the plant, you do get a few more sprouts... oh, a bit like sprouting broccoli! I've not tried summer sprouting broccoli before, but it seems to produce slightly smaller plants, and quicker, than the stuff I grew last year for over the winter, but with smaller crops. Mind you, that might just be the way I've grown it . The bigger plants from the later psb grew massive, and gave a huge harvest for ages, so well worth the space, especially at a time of year when there's not a lot about. I also grew something called romanesco cauliflower (is this different from broccoli? I have no idea..) in the polytunnel last year. The plants grew massive, and produced only quite small heads - tasty, but a lot of space for a small return, as others have said. So all in all, if you're struggling with calabrese I'd try Summer Purple, followed by a couple of varieties of the ones which grow over the winter ready for the spring. Very generous, forgiving plants the sprouting broccolis - and psb was a lot more expensive to buy in Tesco's than calabrese, so it even feels like a bargain!

[KevinM67]

Great post KathyD

I love my Broccoli (especially as a soup with blue cheese, hmmm).

I've never grown great amounts due to: 1. difficulty and 2. Keeping them safe from birds/pests.

During the last month, I've manage to salvage these perfectly sized metal cages, which someone had "fly-tipped" round the back of local Morrisons.

Although I nearly killed myself trying to carry them all the way to the plot, they will be ideal for keeping pigeons at bay - therefore, next year I'm planning a Broccoli frenzy, with as many different varieties as possible.

Talking of Morrisons - the price of a "head" of Calabrese has multiplied in price over the last few years, and don't get me started on their pricing of Romanesco !!!

[WPG]

I like your phrase 'broccoli frenzy' Kevin. I think that describes our approach this year. As well as the dozen romanesco (Natalino) plants, we've got 10-12 plants each of summer calabrese (Belstar), Autumn calabrese (freebie from Grow your Own mag), summer PSB (Santee), summer greenstem (Apollo F1), and about 20 plants of winter PSB (Rudolph). All doing very well so far, with the exception of the summer greenstem Apollo which I found hard to germinate, and slow to grow.

So altogether about 80 broccoli plants to see us through to next spring, We do love broccoli, but hoping we haven't overdone it a bit.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have grown Green Magic calabrese every year for some time now. It never fails to provide nice medium sized heads along with later side shoots. I squeeze 9 plants into a square metre bed that is only 9 inches deep. Two beds give me 18 full heads with about another 6 heads in side shoots.

We have been harvesting just over a fortnight, these two were earlier this week.

Potty

[kathyd]

Well yours is definitely bigger than mine Potty...

[Potstubsdustbins]

Kathy I just want to say................ errrrr no that will get me into trouble.......................so no comment.

Potty