The best broccoli seeds, compared.
Top pick: Kings Seeds Claret F1 Best value: Mr Fothergill's Green Calabrese – Best value for a named autumn head: about £2.39 for 250 seeds, with March to May sowing and a September to November cut. Updated 21 October 2026.
Broccoli seeds on amazon.co.uk cover six jobs, and the word broccoli on a title does not make them the same plant. You may want a green calabrese head, purple sprouting spears, broccoli raab, broccoli, a windowsill tray of microgreens, or jar sprouts you eat within a few days. Name that job before you compare the price. A 25-seed F1 packet and a 1 kg sprouting bag are not substitutes. The Royal Horticultural Society treats sprouting broccoli and calabrese as different crops, and outdoor brassicas in the UK need insect mesh. How to match a listing to a job is in the [broccoli seeds buying guide](/hub/herb-seeds/broccoli-seeds/sub/broccoli-seeds-buying-guide). A broccoli seed is only the start of one named crop. Raab is rapa, not the plant that makes a domed green head. The two listings share one UK review run. On the stated weights, the 2 × 1 kg pack is the lower price per gram, and it is a poor first experiment because a failed batch wastes more seed.
Broccoli seeds on amazon.co.uk cover six jobs, and the word broccoli on a title does not make them the same plant.
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Personal buying guide
Question 1 of 2
What do you want to grow?
Kings Seeds Claret F1, sold here by South Eastern Horticultural, is a pack of 25 purple sprouting seeds at about £1.95. The amazon.co.uk line is 5.0 from one rating, and the notes have no review text, so that star does not describe a harvest, a germination rate, or a fault. The bullets call the plants large and vigorous with purple spears. F1 is in the title, which means saved seed will not come true, and the pack is far too small for a sprouting jar. No sowing month, depth, spacing, sun, or soil line is printed, unlike Early Purple's March to May, 1.5 cm, and 60 cm. At about £1.95 the packet is cheap next to Early Purple at about £4.09, and you get 25 seeds rather than 500. It suits a gardener who already knows Claret and only needs a few plants. It does not suit anyone choosing a first purple sprouting variety from the listing alone.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You already want Claret F1 and only need about 25 plants' worth of seed.
Less suitable: You need sowing instructions on the listing, or you mistook a 5.0 for a tested crop.
Specifications
Common questions
How many seeds are in the pack?
The listing says 25 seeds. Item weight is 50 g, which is the packed weight on the listing.
Can you save seed from Claret?
The title says F1. The listing does not give a sowing month or a sun requirement. Saved F1 seed will not come true.
What do the spears look like on the listing?
The bullets say large vigorous plants and heavy yields of purple spears. No review text is included.
Unwins Broccoli All Season Collection is one pack at about £3.39, GTIN 05051618036962, weighing 15 g as an item rather than as a seed count. The amazon.co.uk line is 5.0 from one rating, with no review text. The bullets say an easy, high-yielding variety for home gardens and flavourful crops with minimal care, but the listing does not name the varieties, the seed counts, or whether you are holding calabrese, purple sprouting, or both. Sun, soil, sowing month, and harvest month are all absent. A collection can look like a way to cover the year, and it fails that job if you cannot tell which packet to sow in March and which plant will still be in the ground in February. At about £3.39 you could instead buy Green Calabrese at about £2.39 with a named season, and you would still not have bought Early Purple's 500 spear seeds. Leave this pack until the contents are printed. A single five-star rating does not fill that gap.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You already know the Unwins collection contents from the physical pack and only need the listing price.
Less suitable: You are choosing a crop from the amazon.co.uk page, or you treat one five-star rating as a trial.
Specifications
Common questions
Which varieties are in the pack?
The listing does not name them. The bullet only says an easy, high-yielding crop for home gardens.
What is the pack weight?
Item weight is 15 g. GTIN 05051618036962 is on the listing.
Is there a written review?
The rating line is 5.0 from 1 review. No review text is included.
Rainbow Heirloom sells Waltham 29 broccoli seed in a 454 g resealable bag at about £32.25, listed for jars, trays, and indoor salads. The amazon.co.uk line is 4.6 from 3,298 reviews. The 50 texts in the notes are from the United States, plus one from Mexico, so they are not British cropping or tap-water evidence. Those writers often describe an easy first jar, a full jar from about two tablespoons by day four or five, and little mould when they rinse and drain. One reports poor germination and a bad smell, including after juicing, and another calls the flavour dull. The listing claims laboratory testing, a very high germination rate, and high sulforaphane, without a figure you can check here, and non-GMO on the bag is not a certified-organic mark. At about £32.25 for 454 g it costs more per gram than either Natures Root pack on the stated weights. Use it if you specifically want the named heirloom Waltham 29 and you will not treat the US star count as a UK taste test.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want the named Waltham 29 for jars or trays and you will not treat US reviews as UK proof.
Less suitable: You want UK review texts, a lower price per gram, or an outdoor spear crop.
Specifications
Common questions
What variety is named?
Waltham 29. The title says non-GMO heirloom seed for sprouts and microgreens, in a 1 lb resealable bag.
Are the written reviews from the UK?
No. The 50 texts in the notes are from the United States, plus one from Mexico. The 4.6 from 3,298 is the UK listing line.
Does the listing give a day count?
No. It names jars and trays. Day counts appear only in those non-UK reviews.
Mr Fothergill's Early Purple is a garden packet of purple sprouting broccoli at about £4.09 for 500 seeds. The amazon.co.uk line is 4.6 from 23 reviews, and the two UK texts here both stop short of a cut: one says the plants grew healthy, the other calls the seed good quality for spring greens. The listing says sow in March to May, 1.5 cm deep outdoors or 0.5 cm in trays, then set plants about 60 cm apart both ways once they are about 10 cm tall, for a February to May harvest. That is a spear crop for a bed, not a supermarket-style head in autumn and not a jar. With two written reviews you have no complaint pattern, and you also have no finished February crop described by these buyers. At 70 g the packet is the heaviest garden line here, but the figure that matters is the 500-seed count. It ranks high on packet clarity and low on harvest evidence.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want purple spears from a UK bed and can give each plant about 60 cm.
Less suitable: You want a green head this autumn, or sprouts in a jar within a week.
Specifications
Common questions
When does this packet say to sow and cut?
The listing says sow in March to May and harvest from February to May. Outdoor depth is 1.5 cm and indoor depth is 0.5 cm.
How far apart should plants go?
The listing says transplant seedlings about 60 cm apart both ways once they are about 10 cm tall.
Is this jar-sprouting seed?
No. It is a garden packet of early purple sprouting broccoli for outdoor beds.
Natures Root lists a pack of two 250 g bags of broccoli sprouting seed at about £20.98, and the amazon.co.uk line is 4.5 from 1,640 reviews, with 50 UK texts in the review notes. Buyers often describe a jar that fills in about four to six days after a tablespoon of seed, an overnight soak, and two rinses a day, and several call the resealable bag a practical amount. One UK note sets out a six-day rinse list and then three to five days in the fridge. A minority report mould, a smell, or small slow sprouts, and one buyer says up to half the seed failed despite a use-by of July 2027. The title says organic and non-GMO, but these notes do not show a control-body mark, so treat organic as a claim until you see it on the bag. In this set it is the top pick when you want jar sprouts this week and will cook anything that is not labelled ready to eat. It is the wrong buy if you wanted purple spears in February.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want broccoli sprouts in a jar this week and will rinse and drain twice a day.
Less suitable: You want an outdoor calabrese head or purple spears, or you will eat a home jar raw.
Specifications
Common questions
How does the listing say to sprout it?
Put 1 tablespoon in a jar, cover with warm water, soak overnight, then rinse and drain twice a day.
Is the organic mark shown on the listing text?
Organic is in the title. A control-body logo or number is not in the listing text, so treat it as a claim until you see the bag.
Do the UK reviews agree on timing?
Many of the 50 UK texts describe edible sprouts in about 4 to 6 days. One reports up to half the seed failing.
Natures Root's larger listing is a pack of two 1 kg bags at about £47.98, with a product-line weight of 2.04 kg. On those stated weights it is about £24 per kilogram, against about £42 per kilogram for the 2 × 250 g pack at about £20.98, so the big bags are the cheaper seed per gram if the titles are accurate. The star line is the same 4.5 from 1,640, and the review notes open with the same UK reviews, including the four-to-six-day jars and the report of up to half the seed unsprouted. You cannot read that as proof that the 1 kg bags behave differently from the 250 g bags. The method on the page is still one tablespoon, a soak, and a rinse and drain. A failed batch on this pack wastes more seed than the same mistake on the smaller bags. Buy it when you already know you will keep the twice-daily rinse for months. Skip it as a first experiment.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You already sprout broccoli every week and want the lower price per gram in this snapshot.
Less suitable: This is your first jar, or you wanted reviews that apply only to the 1 kg bags.
Specifications
Common questions
How is this pack different from the 250 g listing?
The title is 1 kg, pack of 2, at about £47.98. Dimensions are 11 x 23.5 x 33.5 cm and weight is 2.04 kg.
Is the star rating a separate sample?
The listing shows 4.5 from 1,640, and the UK review texts match the 250 g listing. Treat them as one pool.
Can the listing seed become full plants?
The bullets say you can eat sprouts or grow the seed into mature plants. They do not give outdoor spacing.
Just Seed Kailan Kichi is Chinese broccoli at about £1.55, model ORI01M. The title says 300 seeds and the number-of-pieces field says 150, so you should not budget a row from either figure alone. The amazon.co.uk line is 4.4 from 21 reviews, with five UK texts. One sowing came up in about two weeks and a later sowing was quicker in warm weather, and a repeat grower calls the plants easy and good to eat. Another buyer says the stems stayed skinny, with only a couple thick enough to eat, and that they were not the kai lan from a Chinese supermarket, calling them a hybrid. Bullets mention Defra registration 7291 and organic registration AP23164, which is more label detail than most packets here, though the listing text still does not show the yellow supplier label itself. Outdoor use is stated, with autumn and spring bloom, and no sowing month. Buy it for kai lan stems and buds, not as a stand-in for calabrese.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want kai lan stems and leaves and will check the seed count on the packet you receive.
Less suitable: You expected supermarket broccoli, or you need one agreed seed count before you order.
Specifications
Common questions
How many seeds does the listing state?
The title says 300 seeds and the unit count is 300. Number of pieces is 150. Both figures are on the listing.
Is it marked organic?
Attributes say organic, and the bullets cite Defra registered 7291 and organic registration AP23164.
Is this the same as calabrese?
The title is Chinese broccoli, Kailan Kichi. It is not a green calabrese head packet.
Mr Fothergill's Green Calabrese, model 25029, is an autumn heading broccoli at about £2.39 for 250 seeds. The amazon.co.uk line is 4.2 from 19 reviews, and the notes have two UK texts: one says every seed sown germinated, and the other is only a short thank-you, so there is no written fault pattern and almost no written harvest either. The listing says sow March to May and harvest September to November, in full sun or partial sun, with regular watering. Expected plant height is given as 10 centimetres, which is a seedling figure rather than a mature plant, so do not plan the bed from that line. No sowing depth is printed. It is best value in this set when you want a green head in the same year and a UK brand with a stated seed count, compared with Covina at about £3.49 for about 50 seeds or Batlle at about £1.40 with a disputed count and no UK review texts. It will not give you February spears.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want a green calabrese head in September to November and a modest packet price.
Less suitable: You want purple winter spears, jar sprouts, or a packet with dozens of UK harvest reviews.
Specifications
Common questions
Which months does the listing give?
Sow March to May and harvest September to November. Sun is listed as full sun and partial sun.
How many seeds are stated?
The listing says 250 pieces and model number 25029.
Does the listing state a pot size?
No. Outdoor use is the attribute. A pot question appears with no diameter.
Unwins 30310571 is a broccoli microgreen packet at about £2.08, listed as year-round and meant to be cut just before serving. The amazon.co.uk line is 4.2 from seven reviews, and the only UK text in the notes is the single word taste, so you have a star line and almost no method or fault to judge. Seed count is not stated, and the unit weight is 15 g for the packet rather than a gram weight of seed you can portion. Sun is not given. It is a windowsill tray seed, not the 500-seed Early Purple packet and not a 250 g sprouting bag. The price sits with the cheap garden packets, which is reasonable if a tray is the job, and poor value if you expected a season of heads from the same £2. Buy it when you want a small indoor cut and you accept that these notes cannot tell you how many sowings are in the packet. Skip it for an allotment row.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want a small windowsill tray of broccoli microgreens and a packet under £3.
Less suitable: You need a stated seed count, UK harvest reviews, or an outdoor brassica.
Specifications
Common questions
Is this for a garden bed?
The item type is microgreens broccoli seeds. The listing says harvest just before serving.
Does it state a seed count?
No. Item weight is 15 g and the model is 30310571.
What do the reviews say?
The rating line is 4.2 from 7. The only review text in the notes is the word taste.
Semillas Batlle Verde Calabrese is an 8 g packet at about £1.40, model 010905BOLS, with the number-of-pieces field at 1,500. The amazon.co.uk line is 4.1 from 527 reviews. The 44 texts in the notes are from Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Germany, and none are marked United Kingdom, so the star count is not a UK allotment record. Several of those notes praise germination, a Dutch review mentions quick growth, and a French reviewer bought again. A German review says the title promised 1,500 seeds and about 300 arrived, then a refund. A Spanish review says the heads were very small, and another says more than half did not germinate. The style name on the page is Broculi Green Pumpkin, which does not help you confirm the variety, and full sun, moderate watering, and a 65 cm height are listed with no sowing month. At about £1.40 it looks like the bargain calabrese, but the disputed count and the non-UK texts are why it is not best value next to Mr Fothergill's Green Calabrese at about £2.39 for 250 stated seeds.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want the cheapest calabrese listing here and will count the seed when it arrives.
Less suitable: You want British review texts or a seed count the listing and the buyers agree on.
Specifications
Common questions
What quantity is on the listing?
The title says 8 g. Number of pieces is 1,500 and item weight is 9.07 g.
Are the written reviews from the UK?
No. The reviews in the notes are from Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. The 4.1 from 527 is the UK listing line.
Did any review dispute the seed count?
One review says the title promised 1,500 seeds and about 300 arrived, then a refund.
Mr Fothergill's Raab is a packet of about 500 broccoli raab seeds at about £4.09, and the listing gives a sowing-to-harvest figure of about 60 days. These notes have no star line and no review text, so you are buying the cultural notes rather than other gardeners' results. The page says sow February to September at 1.5 cm, thin to 25 cm, use a cloche for early and late sowings, and repeat every two to three weeks for a May to November cut of shoots, leaves, and flower buds. Soil is moist, fertile, and well cultivated, in full sun, including containers, though no pot volume is given. Raab is Brassica rapa, a different plant from calabrese and from purple sprouting broccoli, so a 60-day leaf crop will disappoint you if you wanted a domed green head. At about £4.09 it matches the Early Purple price without that packet's 23 ratings. It is a reasonable listing when you already want raab and will follow the 25 cm spacing. It is a poor default from a search that only said broccoli.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want broccoli raab shoots and leaves on a 60-day, 25 cm spacing.
Less suitable: You wanted a supermarket-style head, or you only buy packets that already have UK reviews.
Specifications
Common questions
How fast does the listing say raab is?
About 60 days from sowing to harvest. Sow February to September and thin to 25 cm.
What do you eat?
The listing says tender shoots, leaves, and flower buds, not a single large green head.
Will it fit a container?
The bullets name gardens, raised beds, and containers. They do not give a pot volume.
Mr Fothergill's Covina is an autumn calabrese at about £3.49 for about 50 seeds, described as solid domed heads with medium beads. These notes have no star line and no review text. The listing says sow indoors from February to April or outdoors from March to June, transplant at about 10 cm, and harvest from June to November, cutting the central head so side shoots follow. Full sun and fertile, well-drained soil are stated, for gardens, raised beds, and allotments. No spacing distance is printed, which matters because a calabrese row is tighter than the 60 cm Early Purple plants but still not a pot of microgreens. Fifty seeds is a short row if germination is ordinary, and about £3.49 is more than Green Calabrese at about £2.39 for 250 seeds. The wider month range is the reason to look at Covina if you missed a March sowing. It is not a top pick on stars, because there are no stars to use.
Pros
Cons
Best for: You want a named autumn calabrese and a sowing window that still runs into June.
Less suitable: You want 250 seeds for the money, UK reviews, or winter purple spears.
Specifications
Common questions
When can Covina be sown?
The listing says indoors from February to April, or outdoors from March to June, and transplant at about 10 cm.
What do you cut?
The listing describes solid domed heads and says to cut the central head to encourage side shoots. Harvest is June to November.
Is there a star rating on the listing?
No customer-review line is present for this ASIN.
Scores use the twelve amazon.co.uk listings kept in this comparison, the prices and star lines on those pages, and the review notes for the same ASINs. This is not a laboratory germination test. A star rating is not a UK harvest. Weights sum to 100. The highest score is the top pick, for a jar. Best value is a different ASIN: a named autumn calabrese with a printed season and a seed count the listing states.
Review evidence
40%UK written reviews count. A large non-UK review set is capped. One star with no text scores low. No rating line scores nothing in this block. The two Natures Root pack sizes share one review run, so the 1 kg bags do not get a second evidence score.
Listing clarity
30%A named crop, a quantity you can use, and either a sowing or harvest window or a jar method. A collection that does not name its varieties, or a seed count the fields disagree on, scores lower.
Sentiment you can use
15%Repeated praise or a repeated fault in the texts that belong to that listing. Health bullets such as sulforaphane or detox add nothing. A 5.0 from one rating is not treated as a finished crop.
Price sense for the job
15%Shelf price against the other listings that do the same job. A cheap packet with a disputed seed count does not take the full block. Green Calabrese at about £2.39 for 250 named seeds is best value for an autumn head, not the £1.40 packet.
Name the crop before the price. A green head, purple spears, raab, kai lan, a windowsill tray, and a jar of sprouts are not the same packet, and a star line whose written reviews are not British does not settle the choice.
A broccoli seed is only the start of one named crop. On amazon.co.uk the same search covers heading calabrese, purple sprouting broccoli, broccoli raab, Chinese broccoli (kai lan), windowsill microgreens, and jar sprouts you eat in a few days. The Royal Horticultural Society publishes separate growing guidance for broccoli and for calabrese. Raab is Brassica rapa, not the plant that makes a domed green head. Name the job before you compare a 25-seed packet with a 1 kg bag.
Purple spears, raab, kai lan, microgreens, and jar seed are different plants or different jobs. A 25-seed F1 packet will not stock a daily jar, and a 1 kg bag will not give you a February spear crop.
Batlle is 4.1 from 527 and Rainbow Heirloom is 4.6 from 3,298 on the amazon.co.uk line. The written reviews in the notes are not from the UK. A 5.0 from one rating, with no text, is not a harvest.
Home sprouts are not ready-to-eat labelled food. Cook them until steaming hot unless the pack says ready to eat. Rinse and drain. Discard a sour or mouldy batch. A sulforaphane bullet is not a safety claim.
The first split is the crop. Heading calabrese, purple sprouting broccoli, broccoli raab, Chinese broccoli, microgreens, and jar sprouts answer different searches. The Royal Horticultural Society treats sprouting broccoli and calabrese separately, and raab is Brassica rapa.
Natures Root is 4.5 from 1,640 with UK jar reviews that often describe four to six days, an overnight soak, and two rinses a day. The 1 kg listing repeats that run, so it is not a second sample. Early Purple is 4.6 from 23, and both UK texts are pre-harvest. Green Calabrese is 4.2 from 19, with two UK texts and almost no written harvest. Batlle at 4.1 from 527 and Rainbow Heirloom at 4.6 from 3,298 show those stars on the UK listing, but the written reviews are not British.
Three typical situations, each with a recommendation from this comparison.
You want broccoli sprouts in a few days and you will rinse and drain twice a day. The Natures Root pack of two 250 g bags is the top pick, at about £20.98, with the large UK jar sample. Cook anything that is not labelled ready to eat.
You want calabrese, not raab and not a jar. Mr Fothergill's Green Calabrese is best value here: about £2.39 for 250 seeds, sown in March to May for a September to November head. It will not give you February spears.
You can give each plant about 60 cm and you will wait until February. Mr Fothergill's Early Purple states 500 seeds, March to May sowing, and a February to May cut. Both UK reviews stop before a finished harvest.
The top pick is the Natures Root pack of two 250 g bags at about £20.98. It scores 88, the highest here, as jar seed rated 4.5 from 1,640 reviews. UK notes often describe a jar in about four to six days if you soak a tablespoon and rinse twice a day. Cook sprouts that are not labelled ready to eat. Best value is Mr Fothergill's Green Calabrese at about £2.39 for 250 named seeds, a different ASIN, with March to May sowing and a September to November head. It is not the highest score. Early Purple scores 76 and is the clearer purple-sprouting packet, but both of its UK reviews are pre-harvest. Skip the jar pack if you wanted February spears. Skip Green Calabrese if you wanted a jar this week.
Mr Fothergill's Green Calabrese
Best value for a named autumn head: about £2.39 for 250 seeds, with March to May sowing and a September to November cut.
Editorial
Peter F. is the editor for DIY & tools at productscompared.co.uk. Comparisons in this category are checked against amazon.co.uk listings, review evidence and public UK sources.
Guides on what to look for, how to use a product, and common mistakes.
Public UK sources named below. amazon.co.uk prices, stars and review counts on these twelve listings are from the category snapshot. Page updated 21 October 2026.
Expert source (DIY & tools): Lee Burkhill (Garden Ninja) (external profile) – public expert commentary used as a research source, not as a contributor to our pages.
This page contains affiliate links to amazon.co.uk (tag pcuk26-21). If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices, stars and review counts are taken from those listings. We did not run a lab test.
