BROCCOLI

(Brassica oleracea botryitis asparagoides). This is an excellent vegetable for general garden cultivation, and provides good beads of flower at every season of the year, according to the time of sowing and the varieties selected. It is hardier than cauliflower, and therefore more suitable for general cultivation.
To obtain supplies for earlier winter use, seed is sown in March or early April under glass, or in a very warm border outdoors. It is hardened off as soon as possible, and transplanted when a few inches high to a nursery bed, the plants being set about 6 in. apart.
At the end of May or in early June the plants are set out in permanent quarters, 2 ft. apart in the rows and with 2.5 ft. between each row.
Those intended for use at the end of winter are sown from the middle of April to the beginning of May, in the prepared nursery bed. These are best transplanted in the same way as the seedlings raised under glass. They can follow peas or beans, being planted between the rows. A further sowing can be made at the end of May, which will produce good heads for use in late spring and summer.
Except for occasional hoeing, no further cultivation is required, except that the crop may need protection during the winter in exposed gardens. A good layer of bracken, hay, or straw round the neck of each plant will serve.

BROCCOLI, SPROUTING
This is cultivated in exactly the same way as ordinary Broccoli, but instead of cutting the whole head, the sprouting side shoots are used as required. Its flavour is said to be improved by a touch of frost.