Calabrese

[annie8]

Am I wasting my time persevering with these calabrese? They just seem to be growing taller and taller but no sign of heads forming.

[ameno]

In a word, yes.
I'm not sure what they are, but I'm fairly sure they are not calabrese. Calabrese should not produce side shoots until the main head is cut, and those things seem to be nothing but side shoots. I think you ended up with some dodgy seeds.

[annie8]

Aah well. It was this that I sowed. Interestingly another plant from that sowing is in a different bed and bolted after growing very small shoots that looked like broccoli. That had given me some hope for the rest, but will just pull out.

[Jungle Jane]

I wouldn’t give up so quick,I’d give them a bit longer if they were mine,there’s a lot of shoots there imagine when it starts producing,they can feel like they take a long time but the seed packet says up to November (harvest). Most plants want to flower,it’s the end result,your plants have been taking time with all that leaf growth that can only lead to producing broccoli in the end.

[ameno]

It's possible you'll still get a crop of small side shoots, but you definitely won't get anything approaching a proper head. Those plants have already started producing lots of side shoots, which means they've already given up on producing a full central head.
Personally, rather than waiting for it to maybe produce flower buds, I would just pull some of those side shoots off now and just eat the stems and leaves (young stems should be tender when cooking, although check for toughness first, just in case).

[rary]

Looking at the photo I would say that they have shot, which usually happens when brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts etc.) are planted into loose soil, the ones that form heads needs the soil firmed around the roots, as said if the stems are tender enough you can still harvest from the plant, if firm, used in a stirfry, also if you peel the outer skin off the stalk the white inner core can be used in place of water chestnut in Chinese cooking