Planning this year's brussels sprouts
I stopped picking broccoli
side shoots two or
three weeks ago. The plants are still putting out a few little
heads, but they get so damaged by heavy frosts that they're not worth
eating.
Luckily, Brussels
sprouts seem undaunted by weather in the teens. This is our first
year growing these tasty morsels, and we've found them to be easy
and delicious. There's room for
improvement in my methodology, though.
As our new,
experimental vegetable, Brussels sprouts got last dibs on prime garden
real estate after the broccoli and the cabbage. That means only
four seedlings were transplanted into the
garden on July 27, with the rest waiting another week. The
later-planted Brussels sprouts also went into the front garden, which
is far too shady for much production in cold weather since it's nestled
up against a north-facing hill. Small surprise we've only been
enjoying the rewards from those early and sunny plants (although the
late and cold plants are still doing fine and may churn out sprouts in
the spring).
This year, I'm going to
start the Brussels sprouts a week earlier and get them all into the
garden by the middle of July (if I can find room). I'm also going
to put Brussels sprouts near the top of our list of important winter
crops, after kale, lettuce, and broccoli, but before Asian greens,
cabbages, and mustard. Finally, at Mark's request, I'll also be
growing lots and lots more. Maybe next winter, Brussels sprouts
will change from a special treat to a regular occurence on our plates.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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