WILL my article reinforce the old adage to 'eat your greens', although green brassicas are still having a hard time of it, they could still be our saviour. But boiled soggy cabbage and sprouts are hardly appealing. Many new varieties are sweet and tasty both raw and cooked, just chop up in your salad or stir fries, or steam to maintain colour, visual appeal, taste and nutrition.

Concerted medical and nutritional research has highlighted and endorsed their health benefits in the fight against serious diseases such as cancers, heart disease and blindness. Brassicas are rich in compounds, particularly antioxidants such as vitamin C, and glucosinalates which have shown to be an essential for our well being. Sprouting broccoli seeds, sprouted in just three days, are packed with antioxidant. Green broccoli, as with other brassicas, contains a mustard oil compound called sulforathane an enzyme activator which attacks carcinogens. Brassicas contain little fat, are a major source of vitamins A and E as well as C, folic acid, selenium and fibre, which all fight for our well being. This is not a 'cure all' but a suggestion to eat more 'greens'.

'Romanesco' is currently the No.1 healthy brassica followed closely by calabrese (green broccoli) and kale, but all brassicas are very good for you. It may be more of a structured promotional presentation and educational campaign in the supermarkets which is necessary more than what is new or in the pipeline for gardeners to grow. If the 'Brussels sprouts are not just for Christmas' commercial marketing campaign has increased the use of this particular vegetable then why not for others within the brassica group?

The current excitement is with 'Romanesco', an Italian late Autumn maturing heirloom of very variable uniformity, but through intensive hybrid breeding. it is giving quality heads over a long harvesting period. Due to its attributes, not just the No.1 healthy brassica, but its creamy taste, attractive lime green colour ( add lemon juice to keep its colour on cooking), and a distinctive look then it is hoped a much wider uptake is on the horizon.

Assessing the new crop during October in Lincolnshire over the past couple of years there were certainly quality heads, some way past their best and others not yet started heading, which given a range of sowing/ planting out dates, could provide fresh heads from August to the New Year. Romanesco make leafy, vigorous plants and need a lot of space. Breeding work to give smaller framed plants and trials on densities to provide 'baby heads' for this expanding market. A face pack of four colours of 'baby cauliflowers' - white, orange, purple and a lime green Romanesco - how stunning that would look. Crosses with Romanesco x green cauliflowers also continue although the stunning visual impact so forceful with Romanesco is lost.

Heat resistant varieties

Calabrese for many years has been dominated commercially by one variety 'Marathon' (still accounts for some 80% of all UK production) which for unexplained reasons has not been widely offered by the seed catalogues. All the calabrese breeders strive to introduce a 'New Marathon' which will have extended planting and harvesting programmes of 400 - 450g domed small beaded heads, both cold and heat tolerance, disease resistances, and freedom of 'hollow stems' and 'stem rots'. Although not a problem in Britain until recent years, many calabrese varieties suffer during July - August hottest periods and varietal improvements to cope with heat stress are continuously evaluated. 'Marathon' sister varieties 'Decathlon' and 'Triathlon' have proven performances during this period.

As for 'sprouting broccoli' then there has been major advances very recently.

Not so many years ago it was 'Purple Sprouting Early and Late' and its much less popular counterpart 'White Sprouting Early and Late' for prolonged picking during February to April. Reselected strains such as 'Rudolph', 'Red Arrow' 'Red Head' and 'White Eye' provide larger spears, increased yields and a wider cropping period from Christmas. The introduction of hybrids, such as 'Claret' considerably increased the yields, spear quality, and harvesting window still further. 'White sprouting ' has tended to be the poor relation but is becoming quite 'trendy' and a hybrid to complement the impact made by 'Claret' is a distinct possibility. Crossings of purple sprouting x chinese kale ( plus other interspecific brassica species) has widened the cropping window immensely as many of these no longer require a cold winter spell or shorter daylength periods to initiate spears. In this process some of the spear colours have changed and has given a conundrum on how best to promote and market it. 'Wok Brocc' is such a vegetable and is really an 'Annual Summer Sprouting' which if sowing and planting dates are trialled can give a cropping programme from June to December. The main difference with this range of varieties is their nutty sweet taste and smooth texture is best enjoyed raw or in stir frying, hence 'Wok Broccs'. Stir frying also brings out the green colour ( and retains the purple) whereas boiling it gives a paler look and loss of its purple colour. There will be further introductions in these types to eat raw as 'convenience' foods as the breeding spectrum has visually appealing, nutritional, tasty and a healthy eating product in mind. 'Wok Broccs' give a succession of flushes over several weeks compared to 'Tenderstem' ( a longer and slender stem calabrese) which is another recent introduction although this type are best steamed/ cooked compared to eating as a raw vegetable.

Widening the harvesting window with 'Purple Sprouting' as a Summer crop is also the breeders aim. 'Bordeaux' is available to the gardener and experimenting with sowing/ planting out dates can give August to Christmas heading, depending on the severity of November/ December weather. Improvements and complementary varieties will dovetail into this market started by 'Bordeaux'.

Kales are also included as they produce a mass of delicious leaves over a long picking window and show fantastic winter hardiness in all but the most waterlogged soils. There are those such as ' Black Tuscany (cavolo nero)' which produce abundant 'baby leaves' from close spacings in about 35 days for a mixed salad, and plenty of mature, strap like leaves through the winter when planted at wider spacings. Dwarf varieties like 'Showbor' remain a vibrant green for months with no sign of yellowing. A perfect dwarf habit for close spacings. Ornamental kales are being assessed for restaurant appeal as the lovely colour range of white, pink, pale green to red through the leaves have that 'come and eat me' appeal.

There is certainly sufficient material within this group of calabrese, sprouting broccoli, kales, and Romanesco for continuous harvesting all the year round and hopefully gardeners will make full use of these in future catalogues - for their health's sake if nothing else.