It has long been a mystery why so few home gardeners grow Brussels sprouts. Is it because people do not like to eat them or think they are challenging to raise?
Most people think they are a delicacy obtainable only at a fancy price at better restaurants and greengrocers. They have not realized that Brussels sprouts are close relatives of the cabbage and just as easy to grow. I find them easier!
When I offer the surplus sprouts from my garden to neighbors, they seem ready enough to accept, cook and eat them. So it must be that they do not know how easy they are to raise.
Since one or two plants will yield a quart of sprouts at picking and then produce a few more for later harvest, Brussels sprouts do not take up much space in the garden. I make two plantings, each to occupy no more than fifteen to twenty feet of row, for a family of two adults and two children.
While it is possible to get an earlier crop by starting plants indoors, I always sow the seed outdoors in the latter half of May, seeding only 2′ or 3′ feet of the row reserved for them. When the seedlings are 4″ to 6″ inches high, they lift gently, the best ones selected, and reset 20″ inches apart for the entire length of the row with rows about 30″ inches apart.
Cardboard collars or old plant bands are pressed into the soil around the stems to protect them from cutworms. I usually open a hole for each plant before lifting the seedlings; then, I fill the gaps with a fertilizer or transplanting hormone solution. While the water is soaking into the soil, I dig the seedlings and plant them rapidly.
The plants receive no special care except a dusting with rotenone after every heavy rain. It has been my experience that they are less susceptible to insect damage than the other cole crops: cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.
I do not start the plants indoors for an early crop because, much as I like them, I do not want them all year round. They are so hardy and “frost-proof” that they can be picked from my garden in southern Michigan as late as Christmas every year. The climate here is about the same as in Connecticut, where I formerly lived.
When To Start Second Planting
Since the May planting is ready for the table by late August, the second planting must be done in early July to provide sprouts until late December. The second crop is handled just like the first, except that the short seed row is covered with a hoard to keep the soil moist and soft until the seedlings are up and the transplants are shaded for a few days to prevent wilting.
A couple of old shingles stuck into the ground, slanting over the plants like a tent, do the shading nicely and are removed as plants take hold.
Of the Brussels sprouts that have been given a trial in my very average soil, which is well-drained, Catskill has done the best, although Long Island Improved, the variety most commonly grown, has been a close runner-up.
In my estimation, the Catskill makes slightly lower, better-looking plants, begins bearing a little earlier and has the best flavor. The stalks are crowded with delectable miniature cabbages from the ground nearly to the top, cooked whole. They are also excellent for quick freezing.
44659 by Everett Henderson