Breaking the rules for purple broccoli

There are some hard and fast rules when it comes to gardening in a climate of extremes like Canberra's:

• don't plant tomatoes before the Melbourne Cup
• don't leave your agaves outside at -7 degrees Celsius unless you'd like to see a plant melt
• don't try to grow sub-tropical fruit
• a week of 41 degrees Celsius will mean you spend more time holding a hose than seeing your loved ones.

So it was with a horror that only a mildly obsessed gardener would understand that I opened my Canberra Organic magazine on Saturday and read: "March: it's too late to grow brassicas from seed". It's important to understand here that I happen to grow a spectacularly sweet purple broccoli, so genuinely delicious that I haven't been able to stomach the store-bought variety for years. Broccoli and other brassicas are best grown for a winter crop, as it will be far sweeter, less sulphurous, and definitely far less riddled with the voracious caterpillars of the dreaded white cabbage butterfly.

It's also important to note that I'm the kind of Canberra gardener who bends the rules:

• I plant my tomatoes in late October
• I have a kaffir lime, chocolate mousse plant, and avocado tree, all of which are sub-tropical to tropical plants
• I have a stash of blankets with which I meticulously rug up my agaves and aforementioned sub tropical trees every winter
• good thing I like standing outside at 6am watching the sunrise - there's no getting around watering in that kind of heat. 

And given there was still one whole day until March, gosh darn it, I was going to sow some brassica seeds! Broccoli and other brassicas have tiny seeds, so they're best propagated in pots before planting into their final destination garden bed or pot. I'm trying a slightly different approach this time, swapping the usual seed raising mix for coir: coconut fibre that comes in a dry compacted block. I crumble some into a bucket with plenty of water and a dollop of Seasol for good measure. Five minutes later it's ready to spread into a shallow well-drained tray.
I've decided to plant broccoli, cauliflower, cavelo nero kale, and some white onion seeds as (Handy tip #1:) growing onions and other alliums near broccoli makes it taste sweeter. I use my own seeds, saved from previous crops, and originally sourced the seed from The Diggers Club – a treasure trove of heirloom vegies.

Kale and broccoli seeds - separated at birth

Handy tip #2: label, label, label. Broccoli, cauliflower and kale seed are identical, as are their seedlings, and nobody's memory is that good two months after sowing. I cut rectangles out of margarine containers and write the names on with permanent marker - it does fade in the sun so I refresh the text every couple of weeks. 

They're all small seeds so I sow them on the surface of the coir, then cover with a layer of vermiculite - a super lightweight mineral that helps retain moisture but doesn't stop the tiny micro-greens from pushing through to get that critical first dose of sunlight.

Bitter experience has taught me not to just plant a few seeds as you may end up with no plants at all. Besides, seed is far cheaper than buying seedlings, particularly when it's seed you've saved from last year's crop.

I sow the seeds thickly; if they all germinate I'll have enough kale to feed a small African nation, but I'm happy to gift excess seedlings to fellow green thumbs at the community garden, work, and in the family. The seeds need to be kept damp and warm in order to germinate. Given the nights are getting a little chilly, these babies are going to come inside each night so that the germination process stays on track.

In a few weeks' time, the first two tiny leaves will poke through the vermiculite, followed by the first "true" leaves that actually look like what the plant will grow into. When the true leaves appear, I'll use a skewer or fork to prick out the bubbies and transplant them into small pots, so they have room to grow to a size suitable for planting in the garden - about 15cm tall.
My purple broccoli will be going in the backyard rather than the community garden plot this year, as part of my crop rotation plan. And you won't believe it but (Handy tip #3:) even with broccoli, one of the great joys of home gardening is being able to wander out the back door, snap off a floret and munch down on this amazing living food.