Brussels Sprouts

Sowing: Brussels sprouts are a biennial crop that can be grown from seed sown directly in the garden or started early and set out later as transplants once seedlings are ready.

Siting: As with other cole crops, they grow best in full sun on fertile, well-drained soil enriched with nitrogen, and their heavy feeding habit calls for consistent, plentiful moisture through the season; because their roots are shallow, mulching rather than deep cultivation helps conserve moisture, suppress weeds and avoid root damage. Rotating cole crops onto different ground every three or four years is also recommended to reduce disease buildup in the soil.

Pests: Cole crops such as Brussels sprouts are attacked by a range of insects, including cabbage aphids, cabbage root maggots, cabbageworms, cabbage loopers, flea beetles, cutworms, slugs and snails. Aphids can often be washed off with a strong stream of water, and row covers put in place at planting help protect young plants from early feeding damage.

Diseases: The group is also susceptible to clubroot, black rot, blackleg and purple blotch, along with downy mildew where plants are not grown in full sun. Liming infested soil to raise its pH can help counter clubroot, and removing and destroying diseased plant material limits further spread.

Brussels sprouts are grown as a vegetable within the Cole Crops, the group of Brassica oleracea vegetables that also includes kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kohlrabi. As with its relatives, cooking the plant's tissue can release a distinctive, sometimes strong odor.

Brussels sprouts trace back to wild cabbage, a plant native to western Europe that has been hybridized over many centuries into the Cole Crops, the same group that gave rise to kale, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, cabbage and kohlrabi. Cultivated cabbage-type Brassica oleracea is described as descended from wild Mediterranean kale and is not native to North America, with the wild form persisting mainly as an uncultivated ancestor rather than as a food crop itself.