Brussels sprouts are one kind of the edible leafy green vegetable that is basically grown for its tasty buds. This crop flaunts like a miniature cabbage and mostly appreciated because of its high nutrition value. Despite the fact that Brussels sprouts require a different type of climate to grow, numerous gardeners dare to cultivate this crop in their own garden area. Actually, this is a challenge to farm such slow-growing crop by all our own capability, and that what instigates the utmost gardeners to cultivate these low-bearing Brussels sprouts on their backyard or garden space! Hence, let’s check out the defined cultivating process of Brussels sprouts in this article ahead, take a look-
Growing Brussels Sprouts:
Soil:
- Brussels sprouts need well-drained soil with enough moisturizer and abundance of organic matter.
- Choose that kind of soil which contains pH level in between 6.0 to 6.8. This will help to keep the growth consistent.
- Apply enough fertilizer and lime extract to maintain the appropriate acidic balance of the soil.
- Soil temperature must keep at the level of 70 to 80 degrees F for the entire growing season.
- Include bounty of a nitrogen-rich amendment to your soil to maintain the nourishment properly. Cottonseed meal, blood meal, composted manure, etc. are a few mentionable composts you could add into your soil for such purpose.
- Some gardeners choose to incorporate time released vegetable fertilizer like 14-14-14 thoroughly into the soil, before starting the cultivation.
- Boron, a noted plant nutrient is an imperative component of soil, if you are looking for a hand full of healthy crops!
Season:
- Brussels sprouts require cool weather or frost climate to grow, so try to start your cultivation in early-spring season or during the mid-summer to harvest the crop till the next winter!
- According to the methods, this leafy green vegetable grows best in the climate of ‘fog belt’ or foggy circumstance.
- Brussels sprouts need a precise temperature in between 45 degrees F to 75 degrees F throughout their whole growing season.
- Though it likes the cool climate to the utmost times, but this veggie also could stand in the sun or partial shade place easily.
You may also be interested in growing broccoli and growing asparagus .
DIY Garden video: How to grow Brussels sprouts
Planting:
- For planting, prepare the particular space in your garden, before 15 to 20 days of planting process.
- Arrange some loose organic soil with the perfect pH balance as we mentioned above.
- Choose a place where your plants could get at least 6 hours of full sunlight, along with a partial shade dilemma.
- Now, fertilizer the soil with at least 2 to 3 inches of compost from the top.
- Then, dig some holes to in the ground with the measurement of ½ to 1 inch deep in a row in the ground and leave at least 18 to 24 inches distance from one hole to the other. As because the Brussels sprouts plants need lots of space to grow.
- Now water your sprouted or germinated plants at the base and make sure that the drainage system works well or not.
- Then, water regularly your plants throughout the whole growing season and reduce the amount of watering only before some weeks of harvesting.
- Now you just need to take proper care of your Brussels sprouts plants to get the healthiest crops from your own garden!
Care:
- For taking care, your Brussels sprouts plants you need to validate every single step of planting very meticulously.
- Make certain that each plant could get plenty of space in between themselves to get enough places to spread their stems.
- Though, Brussels sprouts demand lots of water to grow up properly but don’t forget that they can’t grow against standing water. So, always keep checking the drainage system and avoid any type of clay base soil for the planting.
- Weeds are one typical trouble that could harm your plants heavily, so clear the unwanted weeds from the ground whenever you get time.
- Or you can even arrange some mulch or stalks around the Brussels sprouts plants to get rid of this crisis!
- Mulching is necessary for Brussels sprouts plants to conserve the moisture of your soil and to reduce the extra temperature.
- After a few weeks of planting, dig the soil a little frequently and add some starter fertilizer solution like fish emulsion, or bonnie herbs, 20-20-20, etc. to generate the nourishment of your soil consistency.
- One more vital thing you need to care for harvesting healthy Brussels sprouts and that is getting proper protection from the unwanted pets, worms, and diseases of this vegetable!
DO you love bulky veggies to ? Learn how to grow potatoes and about growing pumpkins.
How to grow Brussel Sprouts Ideas
Pest and Diseases for Brussel Sprouts:
This sprout vegetable could get infected by several pests and diseases, which could harm the quality of your leafy green veggie entirely! Let’s check about some top troubles of this plant along with its solution below-
- Cabbage aphid is a frequent insect that could harm the Brussels sprouts and stunted the growth instantly. This type of aphid not only damages the crops but, they also curl the leaves or eaten them randomly. To get rid of these insects, you need to prune the infected leave or stems if they have attacked comparatively smaller space.
- Cabbage looper is another disgusting insect that could contaminate the Brussels sprouts plants hugely. They make medium to large holes in the leaves and put some disgusted eggs on the lower leaf surface along with leaving larvae on here-n-there! You could use some chemical sprays over these creatures to get remedy from them.
- Clubroot is one kind of fungus that could spoil the sprouts and leave some yellowish spots and distorted the root entirely. Once this problem touches your plants or root, they will stay for the whole growing season. Hence, try not to get infected your soil by this crisis, and for that, you can apply some lime to your soil directly.
- Flea beetle is another unwanted insect that could make small holes or pits in the leaves and damage the tender leaf totally! This insect can jump one plant to another thus a bit difficult to tackle. Make some cage made a barrier around your plant or some silver shaded plastic mulches to protect your plants from these beetles.
- White rust is another type of fungus, which often infects the Brussels sprouts along with its leaves, stems, and flowers. It can roll or thicken the leaves and could make a plant totally unhealthy. You can rotate crops or apply some market-available fungicide substitutes to get rid of this trouble.
Ring spot, black rot, downy mildew, powdery mildew, fusarium wilt, are some other common fungus which could damage the Brussels sprouts plants and their crops entirely; and large cabbage white, trips, diamondback moth, etc. are some common insects which could harm your crop in a similar way.
Want harvest tomatoes and sweet potatoes too.. check these out.
Harvest and Storage:
Brussel Sprouts Harvest:
- Brussels sprouts usually get ready after 180 days of planting, so patiently wait until the last day to get a handful of a healthy
- Start the harvesting when you see the buds get firm and bright green colored with a size of 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
- Generally, the oldest sprouts are found at the bottom of the stalks, thus, start your harvesting from the bottom. Pinch them off the stalk or use a sharp knife to cut out the buds from the plants.
- Some gardeners use to remove all leaves too before they turn yellow entirely, and then they take out the stalks before the frost hit the season. It is beneficial for those Brussels sprouts users, who love to cook the healthy stalks as well as the sprouts!
Harvesting Brussel Sprouts Commercial Size
Storage:
- After harvesting the crops, storage is that particular step we need to take immediately. Generally, Brussels sprouts also store greatly in a cool and dark place like other typical crops for a long period!
- To store them in your freezer, clear all the outer leaves intact from each grain of Brussels sprouts and then, place them in a lidless storage container.
- After that, just keep the container in your freezer to preserve them for a long while.
- But, if you want to get the fresh taste of these sprouts, we will suggest you to place them in the normal temperature of the winter season in a cold, dark place of your room.
- This way, you can store your crop for a long time and at the same time continuously can get the fresh taste of home-grown sprouts!
Growing Brussels Sprouts in Pots:
- This slow-grown crop can be cultivated in a small container or a garden pot easily in the similar way of garden cultivation.
- To grow the Brussels sprouts in a pot, arrange a perfect pot or garden container.
- Usually, Brussels sprouts require a plenty of room to grow for each plant, thus, you need one ideal sized container for every single plant that has at least 12-inch diameter.
- After making some hole inside the pot for the draining system, fill it with adequate potting soil.
- Soil must contain the exact pH level and compost richness, which are required for this type of sprout plants.
- Now, sow the plant as we mentioned about the garden planting process with the exact measurements.
- After that, water each plant with plenty of water and check the drainage system for one more time.
- Then, place the container on that corner of your house, where it could get full sunlight for at least 6 to 8 hours in a day.
- As the garden container couldn’t hold the water for a very long time thus, water your plant frequently to offer the proper moisturizer to the soil.
- Keep validating your plants often and dig the soil a little whenever you add some additional compost or fertilizer to the pot. Usually, fertilizing after a gap of 6 weeks would be the best way to take care of these Brussels sprouts plants.
- Once you see the sprouts start showing, prune and clear weeds from the every possible place and give your plant enough space to rise.
- You can even cut some heavy leaves from the stems to increase the size of the buds.
- The best part of cultivating Brussels sprouts in a garden pot or container is that after cutting one stalk to harvest from the plant, you can continue the cultivation. Because new leaves and sprouts will continue to grow as the plant gets longer or taller.
Not just veggies you can also learn how to grow cilantro and some flowers – growing hydrangea and tulips.
Video: Tips on Growing Brussel Sprouts in Container
Growing Brussels Sprouts from Seeds:
- To cultivate the Brussels sprouts from seeds, you need to plant them in the seed pot first.
- Make a seed pot with the perfect type of soil and make sure that it has an ideal balance of boron, calcium, and magnesium, as these are highly essential at the primary stage of these sprouts.
- Now, dig some holes with the ½ inch depth and plant the seeds separately.
- Then, cover them up with some more compost soil mixture and keep the seed pot near a window or any outdoor area, where they could get enough daylight directly.
- Remember that you have to keep these seeds in a temperature above 50 degrees F to germinate them naturally.
- Germination could happen in 2 to 5 days after the sowing process.
- You can transfer them in your garden area once the seeds are germinated and grow for a fruitful harvest.
Best Varieties in Brussels Sprouts:
Brussels sprouts are a cultivar category of the similar spices as cabbage, which is available in some varieties of types. They all come up with similar measurement of buds but sometimes, in different shades, like light green, white or purple. They have also known by some eye-catchy names like ruby crunch, red bull, etc. Brussels sprouts are also enriched with an equal amount of nutrients, minerals, and calories, the just diverted by the looks and cultivating periods.
Nutrition, Calories and Health Benefits:
Brussels sprouts are the natural resources of several beneficial vitamins and minerals, which work as various health substitutes and help to improve the condition of our numerous organs. These sprouts contain vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin, C, vitamin E, vitamin K, along with calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and ample of zinc.
You can detect 8 calories in every single piece of sprout and carries 10 grams of carbohydrate in every 100 grams of sprout buds, whether you cook, boil, drain or grill it.
This vegetable works to fight against cancer because of its high sulfur content.
It also increases the strength or health of our bones because of the richness of calcium or vitamin K in its every kernel.
These sprouts perform well to control our unmanageable diabetes and escalated the insulin sensitivity in our blood cells.
The antioxidant richness also works spectacularly of these Brussels sprouts and provide us some unbelievable freshness and work as a natural inflammatory supplement to our intestine.
Brussels sprouts maintain or increase the power of our eyesight because of the high consistency of vitamin C.
These sprouts also work for the formation of collagen that helps our skin to rejuvenate and looks surprisingly younger.