Having said before that I wouldn't grow these newfangled flower sprouts (a Brussels sprout/kale cross) again, I have changed my mind: we have recently had quite a bit of pigeon damage on the brassicas, particularly the tender tops of all our kale plants as well as the flower sprouts. But because the eaten parts of the flower sprouts grow along the stem (as on Brussels sprouts), they have not been touched by the pigeons, so there are still plenty to pick!
In previous years we have always covered the entire brassica bed with a sort of 'fruit cage', made from strong netting and supported by bamboo canes topped with plastic bottles, but last winter the heavy snow caused much of it to collapse and tear big holes in the netting, so this year we risked it without.
So, there are merits in the flower sprouts after all!
