First broccoli is not a fruiting vegetable. Purple Sprouting broccoli has a very long season and it a cool weather crop. It is also a huge plant. It will send out flower heads as the fall approaches so you should be ok. It is not a compact plant, the side shoots can be fairly long so crowding could pose a problem.

Around here, No. Bay Area, purple sprouting is supposed to go in in the Fall and harvest in spring.
I plan to do it this year, so I can't talk about it from experience.
Where did you get your seeds, btw?

Thanks - I know its not "fruit" - not sure why I used that word. I'll keep waiting. I know I need to research things better before planting. The seeds were from Sample Seed. She doesn't give DTM times and I didnt bother looking anywhere else for the info.

Purple Sprouting is popular in parts of Europe that have mild winters. It does best overwintered. I have grown it as a midsummer planting for harvest in fall. Did ok, but more of a novelty in my book. I was just curious, and once that curiosity was satisfied, I never considered it again.

Interesting to read this - I also grew it this year - planted transplants out (with the broccoli and kohlrabi) in late February and it got huge, but never sprouted here. All the info I had said "treat like broccoli". I just ripped it out as it was toppling over and just taking up lots of space. Thanks for the info.

farmerdill is right. I sow my PSB seed in April, plant it out in June/July and expect to start eating in February/March the following year. If your plants are 4 feet high they may be getting too much N since mine are rarely over 3 feet. But that might also be if you are growing a generic old fashioned type and not a named cultivar. We can get named varieties over here including F1 PSB and we generally divide it into Early PSB and Late PSB. Also, if you have not grown it before, don't expect the big heads you get on green summer broc. It's more like sprigs. But IMO it is equal to asparagus if fresh, steamed quickly and served with butter. I far prefer it to green broc. I don't know your climate but I imagine it is too cold for PSB to overwinter. But if you have the space I'd leave it in and see what happens. Once it starts to bud up pick it. Don't expect it to get any bigger. It will just flower.