Purple Sprouting
Purple Sprouting Broccoli is a classic garden vegetable that delivers a striking dual-purpose harvest. For the first 110 to 120 days, you'll enjoy tender purple sprouts perfect for fresh eating, then at full maturity, the plant produces dark purple heads that retain their jewel-like color when raw but turn green once cooked. It thrives in full sun and grows as an annual, and its compact habit makes it surprisingly content in containers. This variety rewards patient growers with a long, productive season of harvests.
Full Sun
Moderate
?-?
?in H x ?in W
Biennial
High
Hover over chart points for details
The split personality of this broccoli is its greatest charm: you get weeks of delicate purple sprouts for snacking and light meals, followed by substantial purple heads at the plant's full maturity. The color shift when cooked, from deep purple to green, is a small kitchen surprise that makes each preparation feel fresh. Growing it in full sun produces the most robust sprouting, and the fact that it thrives in containers means even space-limited gardeners can fit this prolific producer into their setup.
Purple Sprouting Broccoli is eaten fresh, either raw as delicate sprouts during the productive middle season or cooked as substantial purple heads at maturity. The tender sprouts work beautifully in salads and as crudités, while the mature heads suit steaming, roasting, and any preparation where you'd use standard broccoli. The fact that purple hues fade to green during cooking makes it visually striking in raw preparations but equally functional in traditional cooked dishes.
Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last expected spring frost, sowing at a depth of roughly 1/4 inch in warm soil around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the seedling tray moist and provide bright light once germination occurs.
Transplant seedlings outdoors after hardening them off over 7 to 10 days, moving them to progressively sunnier and windier conditions. Plant them out when soil temperatures reach at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit, spacing them 18 to 24 inches apart in full sun.
Direct sow seeds outdoors in midsummer for fall and winter harvest, planting at 1/4 inch depth in the garden bed where they will grow.
Begin harvesting tender purple sprouts once they reach 4 to 6 inches in length, pinching or cutting them from the stem to encourage the plant to produce more side shoots. This sprouting phase can last several weeks, providing a continuous light harvest. Once the plant reaches full maturity around day 110 to 120, cut the main dark purple head from the center of the plant, using a sharp knife to sever it at the base where it joins the main stem. After harvesting the central head, side shoots will often continue producing smaller heads, extending your harvest window.
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.