I get a lot out of growing fruit and veg. Even when there’s not much of it.

Growing fruit and veg - often without much success - connects you to how our climate is changing fast.

I actually quite like turnips.

But I like purple sprouting brocolli more.

So I try to grow it most years in the raised beds we’ve got at the front of our house, where a second car parking space used to be.

I grow all sorts of other stuff too. After around 20 years of allotment plots, half-allotment plots, helping on other people’s allotments and then (most successfully) growing some veg at home, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what to grow.

I focus on things we like, and things that are fairly reliable to grow. If they’re also hard to get hold of in the shops, or expensive to buy, then that’s a bonus.

Loads of salad. Shallots. Spring onions. Beetroot. Potatoes if there’s room. Kohl rabi. Kale (usually that posh italian Cavolo Nero variety). Broad beans. Onions. Swiss chard. The occasional turnip. Mixed in with lots of bug-attracting flowers.

And, most years, purple sprouting brocolli.

It takes ages to grow.

You sow the tiny black seeds indoors in early Spring, and it starts to crop around now — getting on for ten months later.

I love growing veg for all sorts of reasons.

There’s the sense of achievement that you get from eating something you’ve grown yourself.

And you can’t beat being outdoors, hearing the birds sing, spotting the insects.

I like too how it gives you a different perspective on time. Ten months ago I planted tiny purple sprouting brocolli seeds. In three years time I may get some apples from the tree I planted in December.

And it connects you to weather patterns and, of course, to the climate emergency.

It was a really challenging year to grow veg last year.

Obviously farmers will know that far better than little old me with my handful of raised beds.

But I doubt I’ve had such an unproductive year since the early 2000s when I took on my first (way too big) allotment plot in west Leeds, and spent most of the time digging up weeds.

You’ll remember the record breaking heatwave. You might well recall that there were other extremes throughout the year too. More extreme downpours than we are used to. Longer periods with no rain at all.

Being outdoors connects you to all of this. Growing food connects you even more.

I’ve got very little purple sprouting brocolli this year. Usually it’s pretty abundant and keeps on giving you more over a number of weeks, at a time when there’s not much else to pick.

But this year, it looks like today’s harvest will be as good as it gets.

It just never got going. The intense heat of the summer clearly put all the plants under stress — and they never really recovered.

So I’ll savour today’s purple sprouting, thankful for how tasty it is, and for the lessons I learn from growing it.

I originally shared a version of this post on LinkedIn.