Friday 24 February 2012

Flower Sprouts - we finally get to taste them!

A couple of days ago the long-awaited Moment of Truth arrived: we ate the first of the "Petit Posy" Flower Sprouts!


"What were they like?" I hear you asking. Well, they tasted OK but unremarkable. Nothing to write home about, as they say. Quite similar to Brussel Sprouts, though very mild. The texture was like that of young Cabbage. This new vegetable is a hybrid of Brussels Sprouts and Kale, allegedly giving the best of both, but I'm not convinced. I think I would rather have the two parents, separately. ("If it ain't broke, don't fix it").

I have to report that I am also totally unimpressed with the VSR of "Petit Posy". (VSR is Value for Space Rating). The seeds for these plants were sown in the third week of April so they have been occupying space for the best part of ten months. After all that time the yield was laughably small. On this occasion I cut one whole plant. Here you can see it next to a pair of secateurs, just to give you an idea of its size.


Unlike the non-F1 varieties of Brussels Sprouts, all the Petit Posy sprouts develop simultaneously, but even so, this one only yielded enough sprouts for a modest two-person serving.


According to the principles of VSR, plants are judged against the following criteria:-
1. The length of time they are in the soil before they can be eaten or harvested
2. The number of servings yielded per square metre
3. Availability, fresh, in Winter or other times of scarcity
4.Quality - homegrown compared with bought
5. Difficult or expensive to buy

Well, I reckon Flower Sprouts score highly on the last one, simply because I have never seen them on sale anywhere. They also score some points for 3, and possibly 4 (because it's difficult to compare them with shop-bought ones when such things are not available!). On criteria 1 and 2 - zero points, or nearly so!




To be perfectly honest, I don't think this vegetable is worth growing. Straightforward Brussels Sprouts are better.

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P.S. I'm still having big problems leaving comments on lots of blogs. It's all to do with the blessed word-verification. I have found that some of them work and others don't. If you have the method that opens a new window for comments, that's normally OK, but often when you have the "Embedded below post" option it doesn't work.  I have removed word-verification from my blog altogether, and I hope that others will do the same.

20 comments:

  1. Yes I've done the same - it's a pity Blogger doesn't do what I'm told Wordpress does. You only moderate comments from new visitors and everyone you know can comment freely!

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  2. Thank you Mark. I just followed you and removed word verification from comments. Good advise!

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  3. Thanks for the info on 'Petie Posy' flower sprouts. That's one veggie I will not attempt to try.

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  4. Thanks for removing the word verification - it was trying my patience as I constantly got the words wrong. I shall steer clear of the flower sprouts - I do like to know whats not worth growing.

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  5. I did that a long time ago. I just couldn't see any reason for it. As for the flower sprouts, well they are pretty but they sure don't look like much vegetable-wise.

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  6. I love the term VSR - it suits you :D

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  7. I never activated the word verification - I don't see the point of it.

    As for your flower sprouts they look like dark dead roses - very pretty, very Gothic.

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  8. They are a pretty colour! Just a shame they take up so much space. A nice experiment though and it's always nice to learn about new varieties.

    I've been having trouble too leaving comments with codes :-/

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  9. At least you gave them ago and now can consign them to the compost bin. I often think these new fangled varieties are not all they're cracked up to be. Stick with the tried and tested veg I think.

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  10. Mark does the testing so we don't have to. Visually appealing but not much harvest! I'll stick to the sprouts.

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  11. My normal sprouts usually end up looking like that anyway.

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  12. I have trouble growing normal sprouts so I was hoping that flower sprouts may do better for me, but it doesn't sound as though they're worth bothering with. They do look good though.

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  13. But you know ... they're so pretty! I'd love to see them on my plate!

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  14. Sad to see it didn't work out. Looks like an interesting hybrid plant!

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  15. Thanks Mark for doing the testing-I’ll give it a miss too...

    Just off now to remove that dreaded word verification...

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  16. An interesting review - I'll stick to my separate varieties too. Some hybrids just don't work in practice!
    Thanks for removing the word verification, and hope your other defences keep you from deluges of garbage. It's frustrating that so many blogger blogs show this problem at the moment - and nothing seems to have been done to fix it!

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  17. Thank you. Was just about to buy a pack of seeds. Won't waste the money or the space now. Very useful information.

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  18. Hello, very appreciated review, that confirms my own experience with them. Not all that tasty, and takes a lot of space a long time. They are easy to keep tho, just feed them properly, so a great wintercrop if you have lots of unused space. But i prefer the big-leafed kales, to be honest. VSR....such a great tool, thanks!

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  19. i forgot to mention: One value they seem to have is that the bugs didn´t mind them. Or perhaps they were just lucky. I am an allotment gardener in Stockholm, Sweden, and just found your blog, very nice! I am longing for spring already.
    /Laura

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  20. They are now available in Aldi, so nolonger rare or expensive.

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