Experience growing brussel sprouts in a garden?

[SproutMamaK]

The cost of vegetables thread has made me start planning out my garden earlier than normal this year. ;) In the past year I've FINALLY managed to get most of my family to start eating brussel sprouts, but they're not cheap. I'd love to add them to my garden, but I'm not sure how easy they are to grow, how effective it would be to grow them in a small urban garden (about 300-400 sq ft), how much they actually produce, etc. Does anyone have any experience? Is it worth it or would I be better off using that space to grow something else?

[Guest]

I have a tiny bit of experience. DH planted them on a whim one year. It was not worth the space to me. We have a hard time figuring out when/how to harvest them, because the sprouts at the top of the stalk mature before those lower on the stalk. We were never sure if we should just cut off the ready sprouts and leave the rest of the stalk, or harvest the whole stalk, though some were not ready.

 

I probably should just let someone else answer.

[itsheresomewhere]

We tried for a few years.  IMO it is not worth the space. Our garden space is max to the fullest and brussel sprouts do not make the cut. We also had similar issues like Quill. For us, it is cheaper to purchase them at the farmers market or even the grocery store.  

[Reefgazer]

They will grow, but they do not do well in hot climates or if planted too early in the planting season; they need to come to maturity in late fall and will fail if you plant in spring (they just attract bugs in summer).  Plant at the right time and go for a vigorous variety, and you'll get a decent crop; they aren't particularly picky about soil, as long as it is fertile and very moist (mulch to maintain soil moisture).  They need to be started from seeds no earlier than June here in southern Virginia.

[Tsuga]

It is incredibly hard compared to every other vegetables we tried.

 

We are in the PNW. Aphids are a serious problem and you have to pick them off or wipe them off by hand. Also, they seem to take years to really mature as plants, or perhaps we just suck at it. By "we" I mean my partner, but he's a green thumb otherwise. I definitely suck at it. All I can grow are tomatoes, rosemary and chives. And peppers. I can cover the tomato sauce, basically.

 

We are going to go for more broccoli and lettuce and cabbage next year. I love brussels sprouts and they're so expensive but now I see why, LOL!

Edited January 18, 2016 by Tsuga

[Carrie12345]

They were originally on our list of things to try this year, but I've decided we're much better off stocking up on $.99 steam-in-bag sprouts, even though we don't steam them in the bag.  My family prefers the smaller size of the frozen to the larger size of our store's fresh, as it is.

[JFSinIL]

We grew some one year for fun - they do take a lot of room for what you get, AND the novelty of trimming the little heads off the thick stem gets old, fast.  Sprouts are one veg I prefer to buy already trimmed at the store.

 

I grow a lot of greens like bok choy, rainbow chard, etc. which I blanch, ice water chill, and freeze for later use. That stuff is easy to grow and costs too much at the store.

Edited January 18, 2016 by JFSinIL

[Alessandra]

It has been quite a while, but I loved growing them. Long after everything else had gone, the Brussels sprouts were still producing. I lived in the northeast near the water, so autumns were relatively mild. We harvested sprouts as late as December. I grew them in flats/pots, then planted them in late summer, so they could where other plants had been harvested. I did have a fairly large garden though.

 

One of my favorite memories is harvesting them for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

IMO, i would start from seed, transplant into pots and then grow a few plants to see if they do well for you.

 

I agree with you about the cost of buying them. My family love roasted sprouts, so if I use two containers, the cost is about $7. Sprouts on the branch are also $$$. Sometimes, I will roast them with shallots to make them go farther. Or add (no roasting necessary) vacuum packed, bagged chestnuts that I get on sale after the holidays.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Alessandra

[Kim in Appalachia]

They are not worth the space, IMO.  We have a large garden, but for the work and space, they are not worth it.

 

I would stick with what you know will grow well and can eat and store.  One of our favorites is peppers.  We grow red and yellow peppers and cut and freeze them by the bag.  They usually last me through the winter.  I love being able to add peppers to my dishes.  They are easy to grow, cheap to store (if you have the freezer space) but they are an item that cost a lot off season.

 

 

[Miss Tick]

One thing I liked about Brussels sprouts was that the taste improves after first frost. For me, that puts them into the special category of being able to plant them and then forget them until the garden gets closed down for winter. I agree that cutting the sprouts and leaves off the stems gets old well before the job ends!

 

I'll put in a plug here for chard. DH propped plastic sheeting over our volunteer chard plants and we are still harvesting despite below-zero temperatures. Taste has mellowed, too. As much chopped chard as I can jam in a quart freezer bag substitutes for a 10 oz block of spinach in recipes.

[flyingiguana]

They sit there all summer and don't produce much, so if you have a small garden you might not find them worth the space.  But if you live in a cold climate where the winter comes early, they can be really nice because they're something you can keep harvesting in Nov and sometimes Dec.  But kale and chard may give you the same thing.

 

We've grown them because my husband likes to experiment with everything.  If it wasn't that or artichokes or something he'd have something inedible in that space, just to look at it and see how it does.

[SproutMamaK]

From what I can see, it looks like once you've trimmed the stems there may be quite a bit of space between the stalks... it is possible to use that space between them to grow anything else, or do brussel sprouts have a fairly dense root system? I'm wondering if I could plant some late summer lettuce between the stalks, which would save me space elsewhere as my other plants (peppers, etc) get larger closer to harvesting time.

[kbutton]

They will grow, but they do not do well in hot climates or if planted too early in the planting season; they need to come to maturity in late fall and will fail if you plant in spring (they just attract bugs in summer).  Plant at the right time and go for a vigorous variety, and you'll get a decent crop; they aren't particularly picky about soil, as long as it is fertile and very moist (mulch to maintain soil moisture).  They need to be started from seeds no earlier than June here in southern Virginia.

 

That explains our results here. We have a lot of trouble with all cold weather crops. We don't have predictable spring weather, so I should probably try those types of crops in the fall.

 

OP, do you eat sprouts frozen? We can get frozen sprouts at Trader Joe's (more per bag, so cheaper), Kroger (on sale), and now Aldi. We actually buy tons at a time from Trader Joe's when we go because we go only a couple of times per year. Fresh are another story.

[SparklyUnicorn]

From what I can see, it looks like once you've trimmed the stems there may be quite a bit of space between the stalks... it is possible to use that space between them to grow anything else, or do brussel sprouts have a fairly dense root system? I'm wondering if I could plant some late summer lettuce between the stalks, which would save me space elsewhere as my other plants (peppers, etc) get larger closer to harvesting time.

 

I'd assume they'd have to have a decent root system because they are thick and fairly heavy.  Whatever you might manage to grow in between probably can't require a ton of sunlight.

 

Another vote here for not worth the space. 

 

We never grew them, but at our community garden our garden neighbor did.  They did well.

 

We live in upstate NY (for reference to climate). 

[cmarthur]

As said earlier, Trader Joes has them frozen at a good price if that is an option. Growing them is dependent on your climate. They take longer to grow (I think they take 120 days to harvest) so you have to be able to plant and harvest them when the weather is not extremely hot. They are not often successfully grown in the south. We also grow without chemicals so they can be labor intensive if you have to monitor them daily for pests. Chard and kale is a wonderful crop that is easy.

[mom@shiloh]

I've grown them, and imo they don't take a lot of space and aren't much more work than other things.  Mine produced abundantly.  The first time that I grew them I left some in the garden over the winter because they weren't very well developed.  We had an early snow that year and there was snow cover all winter.  In the spring, I discovered that my brussel sprouts were growing and ready for harvest!