How many plants will i need

[Lisasbolt]

I am still awaiting my white sprouting broccoli to actually sprout, but have have bought some summer purple-sprouting. You sow Jan-March and plant out April-Jun and havest Jun-Oct, I always get carried away and plant far too much. How many plants would you recommend for just the 2 of us, hopeful that it won't bolt in our heat.

Also never planted cape gooseberry and looking forward to it, i will make jams etc, again how many plants would you recommend

I always give a lot away, so would want to grow a few etc

Thanks in advance

[Lisasbolt]

p.s i have seed in hand eagerly awaiting

[Alison]

I don't want sprouting broccoli in the summer so have never grown it but find 4 of the normal plants give us more than we need in April.

Never grown cape gooseberries either (are they those orange things with a posh name that always reminds me of a dodgy disease?), nearest I've done is tomatillos which get huge and 3 plants give me far more than I can eat.

[Penellype]

Broccoli plants are big and produce quite a large crop but it really depends how much space you have and how much you eat. Bear in mind too that if you don't want broccoli full of caterpillars you will probably need to net the plants as they will be flowering at peak caterpillar time. I would think 3-4 plants would be plenty, but you can always freeze some if you grow more.

I've not grown cape gooseberries so I'll pass on those.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I has Summer Purple two years back and found 5 plants were more than enough for the two of us. But this is not the sole veggie we are harvesting at that time.

[veggiechicken]

I grow Cape gooseberries/ Physalis (You're right Alison, it does!!) but never had enough to make jam - just to browse on at this time of year. I'm sure its different in the warmth of Spain.
They grow as perennials in my GH.

[Snadger]

Just one cape gooseberry plant in the right conditions will grow massive and give many pounds of fruit. I usually grow four early PSB and four late PSB plants and this gives me enough with plenty left for the chooks!

[Lisasbolt]

wow, ok so me thinking 20 of each, is a bit much thought they might be smaller plants with the shorter time period, lucky i had to nip out and didn't plant that any.

I have a 12 meter polytunnel and was thinking of growing outside along the edge, it will give a small amount of shade, so hopefully no bolting.


Thanks everyone

[WPG]

Lisasbolt, I've found the summer varieties are more compact than the winter brocolli plants, so I tend to space them closer together (around a foot apart). We grew 16 summer PSB plants last year, which fed us (3 people) fine over the summer (though we like brocolli a lot in our house!). January sounds very early to be sowing it, though I guess the growing season in Spain is quite different to UK.

Like you say, it's very prone to bolting in the heat. Someone on this forum mentioned last year that the reason for brassicas bolting is that the roots get overheated, rather than the leaves. To keep the roots cool you can put a thick mulch over the soil - I tried it last year with chopped comfrey leaves, and I do think it helped a bit (although most of the plants did eventually bolt).

[muddled]

The cape gooseberry plants I have grown vary wildly in size and productivity.

I've had two plants that made huge amounts and another year had two ROWS that, frankly, did not.

So I would say sow loads.
The fruit keep well in their papery husks for eating raw and cook and freeze well enough that a glut would be more a blessing than a chore.
I bought mine from the lovely realseeds this time and plan to sow at least half if not all of the packet. If they grow huge I'll save seed for next time as well.