Brussel sprout recommendation please?

[RobinOfTheHood]

I'm on fertile but heavyish clay, Evesham Special haven't ever done much for me and the F1 (Montgomery I think) that I grew last year got to a decent size but blew.

[RobinOfTheHood]

[jimtheworzel]

when do you sow and plant?..is the grownd firm

[tim]

And do you want them early or later?

[RobinOfTheHood]

Jim - the ground can be whatever I want - usually rotovated but not this last year, generally firmed in afterwards. Last time around I left the ground over winter with a layer of manure and a layer of shredded paper on top, and just used a bulb planter through it. It was pretty much like concrete - the manure could have caused the Montgomery to blow?

Depends what you mean by early/late, Tim. Something around this time of year would be good.

I don't want too many plants in order to get a reasonable return.

Edit: I'll sow whenever recommended. I just want some decent sprouts.... :(

[manicscousers]

we used bedfordshire fillbasket last year after a recommendation on here, still eating them now, long, well filled stalks, fed them with blood, fish and bone  :)

[kt.]

Evesham Special haven't ever done much for me

I trialled 6 of these plants in my plot this year and they were abissmal,  same results for my brother-in-laws plot too. (We have good soil, not clay)

My 2 solid recommendations are:
Maximus F1 - Harvest from Sep-Feb though the packet says only up till late Nov.
Bedford Fillbasket - Harvest Dec-Feb/Mar

Undecided yet: Wellington F1 - Harvest from Jan-early April.  ??

I am still waiting out on the Wellington as it is my first year with them but the Maximus are fantastic year on year.  I have always sown Bedford Fillbasket for a later crop (Dec-Mar) but opted to try the wellington to extend the cropping season by 4-5 weeks.  If the Wellington don't perform then its back to B/Fillbasket.  The sprouts from the B/F are massive!!!

[TEL]

I use diablo F1 harvest  December through to February i find these very good if you put dung down just before you plant them.

[earlypea]

Does anyone grow Seven Hills?  I like my sprouts small to medium and want them late so seems right.

So far I've grown Noisette and Trafalgar;  The former were a big bland let-down and the latter unexpectedly intense and nutty but not sweet at all - as I imagined the Noisette should be in fact.  Very odd.

[davyw1]

I have found the best results from Montgomery, Braveheart, Citadel, and Wellington.

Why not try a different method. What i do is dig a trench about 6" deep and plant the sprouts in it and firm down and put a ring of growmore round each plant, as the plants grow i back fill and firm the ground down each time till i get to the garden level and Finnish off with another ring of fertilizer.

[angle shades]

I grew Evesham S but they blew, then sowed Nelson F1 which I'm eating now, a result for  me as I find them hard to grow/ shades x

[Froglegs]

I grew Nautic and Berwick and will do so this year.

[laurieuk]

I have found Bridgett to be very good ,I grew Peer Gynt for many years and could not find anything better but like so many things they took it off the market. As with most things it is a case for finding what suits you and your soil. I said on another website that in my appion firm soil was almost essential but I am told research says this makes no difference, it does in my garden so firm soil remains.

[saddad]

Does anyone grow Seven Hills?  I like my sprouts small to medium and want them late so seems right.

So far I've grown Noisette and Trafalgar;  The former were a big bland let-down and the latter unexpectedly intense and nutty but not sweet at all - as I imagined the Noisette should be in fact.  Very odd.

Are you sure you didn't get the labels mixed up? I've done it before, it only really showed up in the red cabbage!!  :-[  :-X

We are using Igor at the moment...

[earlypea]

Definitely not a mix-up Saddad - It would be impossible to mistake them for each other.  Too different looking and Trafalgar is very tall and Noisette extremely short, as expected.

[RobinOfTheHood]

Well, it looks like I'm giving up on the Evesham Specials, I think it's going to be Bedford Fillbasket (DT Brown) and I'll have another go at the Montgomery F1 (Alan Romans).
I was going to do Maximus, but that only seems to be available from T&M, and it would be the only thing I needed from there.

I think I'll change the method for this year too, no manure for starters - that was done this time last year, so I'll leave the soil alone for a year. I may also just plant them deep but not firm them in afterwards - the soil is heavy enough to support them, and what Tee Gee said on another thread about hard soil restricting the root system makes sense to me.

Thanks for your assistance gents, and on to the next: .............. ;)

[kt.]

Well, it looks like I'm giving up on the Evesham Specials, I think it's going to be Bedford Fillbasket (DT Brown) and I'll have another go at the Montgomery F1 (Alan Romans).
I was going to do Maximus, but that only seems to be available from T&M, and it would be the only thing I needed from there.

www.kingsseeds.com sell both Bedford Fillbasket and Maximus.  Seeds are quite cheap from them too.

[RobinOfTheHood]

The Kings Seeds website has them both as early season (early-mid for maximus)?

Montgomery is listed mid-late, so I'll try again with that. Thanks anyway, I'd forgotten about Kings.

[Yorkshire Sam]

I grow Maximus and Cascade and find that these give me sprouts to pick from around early Nov and can still be picking in Feb. But do tend to freeze a lot for the rest of the year. Only need 4 of each plant to keep me in sprouts for most of the year.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Thomas Etty list both Bedford Fillbasket and Evesham Special.

[TheEssexYorkshireman]

Can't remember which variety I grew this year but they were a disaster! Lost all their leaves first and then the buttons blew .. we had to buy supermarket ones for Christmas. So I am reading your comments with great interest.

Last year, although again I cant remember the variety, we had a good result so I dont think it is the soil (clay!).

TEYman