How to Grow Brussels Sprouts

If you live in the colder regions of the United States - USDA zones 5 and below - the brussels sprout could be the best friend your kitchen garden ever had. Not only does it shrug off cold spells that would turn most veggie plants to mush, but a few good frosts actually enhance its flavor and appearance (which bears scant resemblance to that of the olive-drab stuff in the supermarket produce bins).

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Mulch
• Brussels Sprout Seeds
• Garden Trowels
• Shovels
• Compost Makers
• Garden Spades
• Fertilizers

1. Time your planting so that your brussels sprouts mature when days are still warm but nights are getting frosty. In warm climates, plant in late summer or early fall to harvest in winter or early spring. Elsewhere, count backward three to four months from the date of the first expected frost.

2. Choose a site that gets full sun and has well-drained, fertile soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5.

3. Sow seeds directly into the ground if you have a long, cool growing season; otherwise, start seeds indoors four to six weeks before you intend to plant the seedlings.

4. Space plants about 2 feet apart, and put a shovelful of compost into each hole before you set in the seedlings. About a month after transplanting (or about six weeks after germination if you've sown seeds in the ground), side-dress the plants with compost or spray them with fish emulsion.

5. Keep the soil evenly moist, use mulch to retain moisture and discourage weeds, and use floating row covers and paper cutworm collars to repel pests.

6. Encourage most of the sprouts on a plant to ripen at the same time by pinching off the growing tip and the top leaves - but wait until the lower sprouts are about 1/2 inch in diameter; otherwise you'll reduce the yield. Expect mature sprouts about two weeks after topping.

7. As the sprouts appear, remove leaves growing under them and any leaves that have yellowed.

8. Begin harvesting brussels sprouts when they're about 3/4 inch in diameter and before they exceed about 1 1/2 inches. They'll ripen slowly over a period of several weeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Timing can be tricky with brussels sprouts; though they thrive on frost, they can't handle hard freezes. Experiment with your planting dates and be patient: It may take a year or two of less-than-perfect crops before you work out the best schedule for your microclimate.

• Brussels sprouts have shallow roots, so the plants need some help staying upright. Keep them steady on their stems by mounding soil around the base of each plant as it grows, firming it with your foot or the back of a hoe.

• Brussels sprouts are good for you: Besides sharing the cancer-fighting properties of other members of the Brassicaceae, and boasting healthy amounts of potassium, iron and fiber, they have more vitamin C than oranges and three times the vitamin A of cabbage.

• Like all members of the Brassicaceae, brussels sprouts can fall victim to clubroot. Fend off this fungal disease by growing your own seedlings rather than buying them, by rotating Brassicaceae crops each year, and by choosing disease-resistant cultivars (they're marked as such in seed catalogs).