Broccoli Types Explained

Broccoli Types Explained: Choosing the Right Variety for Your UK Garden

If you've ever searched for “broccoli varieties” and ended up confused by names like Calabrese, Tenderstem, Brokali, and Rapini, you're not alone. For UK gardeners, understanding the main broccoli types is the key to achieving continuous harvests from summer right through to spring.

This guide explains the differences between each type, introduces the best Growseed varieties, and helps you choose the perfect one for your garden.

In the UK, the name “broccoli” refers to a group of brassicas (members of the cabbage family) that produce edible flower heads and stems. While they’re related, they vary in flavour, texture, and season. Below we break them down into the four essential types.

1. Heading Broccoli (Calabrese)

The classic, single-headed broccoli most familiar to gardeners and shoppers. The correct botanical term is Calabrese (Brassica oleracea, Italica Group). It’s the fastest-cropping type, producing a main harvest in the same year it’s sown — typically summer to early autumn.

• Growth habit: One large, central head (crown).
• Key benefit: Quick to mature — generally 60–100 days from transplanting.
• Second harvest: After cutting the main head, smaller edible side shoots develop for several weeks.

Top Growseed Calabrese Varieties

• Green Magic F1: RHS Award of Garden Merit. Highly reliable, heat-tolerant, and slow to bolt. Dense, blue-green heads with generous side shoots.
• Marathon F1: Large, heavy heads with excellent disease resistance. Ideal for late summer/autumn harvests and good post-harvest holding.
• Samson F1: Superb late-season variety. Compact, dome-shaped heads with strong cold tolerance; stands well to extend autumn picking.
• Kimono F1: Quick to mature. Large, tight, dark-green heads for early summer or late-season cropping.

2. Sprouting Broccoli (The Winter Crop)

Sprouting broccoli includes hardy types that fill the “hungry gap” of late winter into spring. Sow in spring/early summer, overwinter, then harvest the following year.

• Growth habit: Large, robust plants producing many slender, tender spears.
• Key benefit: Reliable February–May harvests when little else is available.
• Types: Traditionally divided into Purple Sprouting and White Sprouting.

Top Growseed Sprouting Varieties

• Early Purple Sprouting: Traditional favourite with high yields of classic purple spears. Very frost-hardy; among the first to crop.
• Green Sprouting: Similar habit to purple types but with sweet, tender green spears and excellent cold tolerance.
• White Eye Sprouting: Early, reliable white sprouting with creamy-white, mild spears; often ready from February.

3. Stem Broccoli (Brokali / Tenderstem-Type)

A modern hybrid group bred for long, edible stems and smaller florets (like Tenderstem). Typically F1 crosses between Calabrese and Chinese kale; mild flavour and rapid growth.

• Also called: Brokali or Stem Broccoli.
• Key benefit: Quick maturity (around 60–90 days) with prolific, cut-and-come-again stems.
• Pro tip: Pinch out the central head early to encourage more side spears.

Top Growseed Stem Varieties — The Delistem Series

• Delistem Green F1: Dark green, tender spears on long, juicy stems. Fast to mature and crops over a long period.
• Delistem White F1: From a cauliflower line; sweet, creamy-white florets on edible stems with excellent regrowth.
• Delistem Kale F1: Technically a kale, included for its highly productive, sweet, tender leaves and stems; outstanding cut-and-come-again performance.

4. Broccoli Raab (Rapini)

Also known as Rapini or Cima di Rapa, this isn’t a true broccoli but a turnip relative grown for its leafy shoots, buds and young stems, all harvested before yellow flowers open.

• Growth habit: Clusters of leafy shoots with small buds.
• Key benefit: Exceptionally quick — often ready in ~40 days — with a distinct, slightly bitter, nutty flavour prized in Italian cooking.
• Growing note: Best in cool weather; sow early spring or late summer and pick regularly to keep plants tender.

Quick Variety Selection Guide

Broccoli isn’t a single crop — it’s a family that can fill your beds almost year-round. Calabrese brings quick summer harvests, sprouting types keep you supplied through winter, and Delistem hybrids deliver the tender stems many cooks love. Add a sowing of Rapini for a rapid, flavourful twist, and you’ll enjoy fresh, home-grown greens across the seasons.