Topic: Growing Brussels Sprouts

[manicscousers]

we grew a cabbage this year for salads, called kalibos, lovely and crunchy, also steamed some, that was nice as a veg, good luck with your sprouts, we love 'em  :)

[saddad]

Some of the Summer cabbage stand really well.. we grow Minicole and have literally just eaten our last ones this week... cut from the lottie, not even stored.
 ;D

[Garden Manager]

Some of the Summer cabbage stand really well.. we grow Minicole and have literally just eaten our last ones this week... cut from the lottie, not even stored.
 ;D

Surely those would be technicaly 'Autumn' Cabbages? The seasonal prefix really only refers to when they are cropped, not grown.

[Mrs Ava]

mmm, I love cabbages in summer for coleslaw or crispy shredded cabbage with a dressing and cracked mustard seeds drizzled over them.

Sprouts are a great winter crop and I woudn't be without them  ;D

[telboy]

GC,
Now they've all had there natter, I note that in your earlier post, you have a 1.5m by 1m space to offer the sprout plants?
Bearing in mind the general spacing requirements for sprouts there won't be many plants.
Is this an issue?  A dwarf variety like Peer Gynt is an option, but the seeds are very expensive now as the strain is coming the the end of it's life.

[Garden Manager]

Telboy: Yes I dont have much space - the dimensions i gave are about half of one of my deep beds. I would say a fairly compact variety is preferable but not essential. We are a small family so to have too many plants would mean more sprouts than we could eat!

Just received my Marshalls veg catalogue. They sell quite a few sprout varieties as seed. The also have a chart of the varieties showing which ones crop when. I found this particularly usefull. A variety called 'Breeze' crops from november to february, which is ideal. Can anyone tell me if this is a good variety to grow? Thanks.

Just one more thing on growing. I am assuming that sprouts are just as vunerable to the same pests and diseases as any other brassica? So I guess I will still have to protect them against the pigeons and the cabbage whites? (dont have problems with clubroot or root fly).

[cornykev]

Still not sure :-\ about growing Brussels my neighbours plants seem to take up so much room for so little crop and the whitefly could fill a skip and they were still in the ground long after the plants were gone last year. ??? ??? ??? :-\ :-\ :-\

[Tee Gee]

Regarding numbers in a bed 1.5x1.0 I would say at a push you can get 12 plants (3 rows) in but at least 8 (2 rows).

Have a look at the picture I displayed. My beds are 1.5m wide and I grow 4 plants across the bed. The first plant is 150mm in from the edge and there is roughly 400mm between the plants eg.

150x400x400x400x150


Now I know the books will say 600mm apart but I have found over the years that  growing them in this block fashion allows them to support each other, wheras when they are further apart they need support.

The crop does not seem to be affected either, If there is any difference I would  say the sprouts are slightly smaller but tighter when grown closer together.

Regarding growing 'Breeze' I have never grown these but the write up seems quite good, worth a try I suppose.

I don't rate 'United' Marshalls issued them a couple of years back as a freebie trial.

On my lightish soil they tended to 'blow' perhaps due a combination of size & soil conditions.

I tried them for the last two seasons they were slightly better last season perhaps because of the cool wet end to the season i.e. they were in wetter soil.

I hope this info helps with your decision making

[caroline7758]

I'd certainly agree about staking- I got a much better crop this year than last by making sure I staked early and firmly. I was interested to see Carol Klein saying that cauliflower plants should be planted deeper than in the pots they come in- does this help with all brassicas?

[Tee Gee]

Quote; cauliflower plants should be planted deeper than in the pots they come in- does this help with all brassicas?

Basically yes!

What I find with brassicas is the stems of the seedlings are generally  bent/distorted where they emerge from the soil/compost, so I bury the bent section when transplanting them. Then I find that the plants grow vertical rather than in the direction of the bend.

Other than that I don't know if it is really an advantage  ???

[theothermarg]

i thought the purpose of planting them deep was because root grow from the buried stem taking in more food and making them more stable

[Garden Manager]

Yes I have always planted my cabbages a little deeper than they were in the pot, usualy because I tend to let them go too long in the pot before planting out ant they get a little leggy. I reckon they are more stable this way.

Re planting distances; I like to plant things a little closer than the 'reccomended' distances, which are really designed for growing the 'old fashioned' way in open rows on the plot. In beds (especialy deep beds) I feel the plants can be grown slightly closer together in a grid arrangement. I cant really explain exactly why this makes a difference but as the rops grow well it would appear to work. In the case of many plants closer planting means they support each other rather than having to be staked.

Thanks for the advice on the Sprouts by the way. Very interesting and usefull.