Saxman wrote:
I've not grown early purple sprouting broccoli before and would
appreciate any tips
from those who have including varieties/pests etc?

Like all brassicae, it's dead easy to grow; you just need to keep away
everything else that wants to eat it before you do!

The net cage suggested by another poster is more use against pigeons
than butterflies; cabbage whites seem to have evolved a teleportation
ability! I've learnt to just pick off the eggs and caterpillars as they
appear, which isn't that onerous on a nice sunny day. Pigeons will just
use brute force (see my complaint on another thread).

I use Nemaslug to keep the slugs at bay, and fortunately don't seem to
have any problems with cabbage root fly or club root. I just harvested
this year's first shoots and ate them today: lovely and sweet; I also
sowed next year's at the weekend. Mine says 'Early Purple' on the
packet, but named varieties include 'Rudolph', 'Bordeaux' and 'Redhead'
– the only named variety I've tried is 'Spike', which matures in the
summer after sowing rather than the following spring. It was a
disappointment: not only did it become ready at exactly the same time as
the beans and courgettes and peas and all these glutty things, but it
was actually rather bitter. Not recommended.