Purple sprouting broccoli

Hello folks, wandered if anyone can help....

I bought some baby Purple sprouting broccoli plants from the garden centre this spring and planted them out once the frost had finished into a large container, they have now grown to about 2 foot tall, but was wandering when i will get the flower beginning to grow in the centre for picking, all thats going on is the leaves getting munched away by insects and holes everywhere, any advice on what to do please

 

That was about all I managed to successfully grow last year. Well, don't think I had much to do with it... I bought some little plants which kept growing and growing then about this time last year they got completely stripped by caterpillars, but I left them in and when it got colder they recovered and January to March I had loads of Broccoli to eat, it kept sprouting, it felt like pretty much every day I could go out and harvest enough for two meals.

 

I will hope mine will do the same IDK, thanks for your info

 

I've not grown this for years, but unless things have changed it wont flower until late Feb/ March next year.

If you bought the plants early spring that sounds just a bit early to me.

I never bothered sowing until April or early May.

 

Try looking under the leaves every couple of days and you will find yellow clusters of butter fly eggs. If you wipe them off you won't get catterpillers.
I have 5 sprout plants and I found over 12 cluster of eggs tonight, I have been checking for 2 weeks and have no holes in my plants yet.

 

Thanks found some yellow eggs and it's the white butterfly as i've had quite a few fluttering around them in the last week.