With nearly a whole year to grow before blooming, Purple Sprouting
eventually reaches 4 to 5 feet in height and 3 to 4 feet in
diameter, and yields hugely.

_Irrigation:_ It is not essential to heavily fertigate Purple
Sprouting, though you may G-R-O-W enormous plants for their beauty.
Quality or quantity of spring harvest won't drop one bit if the
plants become a little stunted and gnarly in summer, as long as you
fertilize late in September to spur rapid growth during fall and
winter.

Root System Vigor in the Cabbage Family

Wild cabbage is a weed and grows like one, able to successfully
compete for water against grasses and other herbs. Remove all
competition with a hoe, and allow this weed to totally control all
the moisture and nutrients in all the earth its roots can occupy,
and it grows hugely and lushly. Just for fun, I once G-R-E-W one,
with tillage, hoeing, and spring fertilization but no irrigation; it
ended up 5 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter.

As this highly moldable family is inbred and shaped into more and
more exaggerated forms, it weakens and loses the ability to forage.
Kale retains the most wild aggressiveness, Chinese cabbage perhaps
the least. Here, in approximately correct order, is shown the
declining root vigor and general adaptation to moisture stress of
cabbage family vegetables. The table shows the most vigorous at the
top, declining as it goes down.

Adapted to dry gardening Not vigorous enough