March 25, 2013

It’s spring by the calendar and spring in my garden. 

This is why I love the winter garden…

Here’s one of my three purple sprouting broccoli plants a week ago.

And here’s how it looked yesterday just before harvest. You can see the cut head in the basket image above. Interestingly, all of the plant is edible–leaves, stems and sprouts.

More purple sprouts form below the central head. Purple sprouting broccoli is an over-wintering variety. You can read more about it on my blog post from last March. See more images here.

One of the purple sprouting broccoli plant is four feet across, but has not produced a head yet.

This year I planted each of the three plants in 15 gallon pots and gave the other three away. My raised bed for brassicas couldn’t contain six of them last year.

Did I mention I’m enchanted by purple and broccoli?

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne’s Dandelions. It’s a time to share what you’re harvesting in your garden or how you’re storing or using it.