SHIFTING ROOTS

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How to Grow Bug-Free Brussel Sprouts from Seed

Brussel sprouts can be tricky to grow in a cold climate with a short growing season, like zone 3. They take a long time, are prone to bug pressure, and take up a lot of space. However, the taste of an organic, homegrown brussel sprout roasted to perfection makes it worth it!

It’s taken me 4 tries to finally grow brussel sprouts worth eating, and now I’m going to share it with you how I grow it from seed. My advice will work best for those who garden in zones 2, 3, and 4, but the bug pressure advice should work for any gardener in any zone.

So here’s how I grow (almost) bug free brussel sprouts in my zone 3 garden.

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Before I get into the details, I know some of you would rather watch a video than read every detail. You can see me and my real life garden in the video below:

Alright, on to the good stuff!

Are Brussel sprouts easy to grow from seed?

Yes, but in a short growing season you’ve got to get the timing right. The bulk of my garden typically gets planted around the May Long weekend in Canada (sometime around May 20th), but brussel sprouts need to be both started from seed and put outside much sooner than that.

These brussel sprout seedlings were started 10 weeks before our last frost date–around the first week of March.

Brussel sprout seedlings under frost cloth in a raised bed garden.

Then, since brussel sprouts love and can handle the cold, I put them out in my raised beds under frost cloth and hoops around the beginning to middle of April. This step was the key to my success this year.

The brussels sprouts thrived in the cooler spring weather and were not stunted in size by staying in a seed starting pack for a longer time. The frost cloth kept them warm enough, but it was okay if there was a killing frost overnight, because brussels sprouts can handle colder temperatures.

It’s key to remember this fact in the fall. When it’s the beginning of September and the first frost comes, don’t worry about covering your brussels sprouts–they’ll be totally fine. In fact, if your brussels sprouts are still on the small side, just keep them in the ground until the temperature drops until around minus 10 celsius or lower. At the time of writing, it’s the beginning of October and my plants (except the one I pulled in the video) are still in the ground.

Can you Grow Brussels Sprouts in Raised Beds?

Yes! In fact, if you watch the video, my brussels sprouts are living quite happily in raised beds. I gave them around 18 inches of room this year, but next year I will give them closer to 24 inches. If you’re a square foot gardener, that means that you’ll plant each brussel sprout seedling in the middle of 4 squares.

P.S. If you need help with the spacing in your square foot garden, I personally love and use the Seeding Square, and you can also get 4 of my free plans below:

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What insects eat Brussel sprouts? (And what do I do about it?)

One of the things that make brussel sprouts so difficult to grow is that so many bugs like to eat them! Flea beetles, slugs, aphids, and more all love to get into them. It’s also frustrating, because of the way brussels sprouts leaves overlap each other, once the bugs get in they can’t really get out, and its very difficult to get rid of them.

Sadly, the best way to “get rid of bugs” from brussels sprouts is to prevent them in the first place. To do that, I keep the frost cloth over the plants as long as possible, as they also keep out most of the bugs. You can replace the cloth with actual bug cloth if you wish once the risk of frost is over.

The only downside of preventing bugs this way, is that you need to make the hoops really tall. Mine were only about 2-3 feet tall, and it was not nearly enough. Next year I will make them 4 feet tall, so I can keep them on through most of the bad bug pressure.

To make your own hoop system for keeping out bugs, read this post for creating one in rows, or this post for a raised bed version.

Unfortunately, the bug fabric won’t keep out the slugs. For that, I’ll be setting out pie plates with beer, and setting out copper tape. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try slug bait or a spray. Use one like Sluggo that’s safe for pets and wildlife.

slug damage in a brussel sprout.

Finally, if aphids are the bug that’s plaguing your vegetables, you can buy a colony of ladybugs from your local garden centre. Lady bugs naturally eat aphids, so they’re a great natural pest control.

How to Harvest Brussels Sprouts

If you’ve never grown brussels sprouts before and only seen them in the grocery store, you might not know that they grow along very tall stems with big leaves that stretch out. To harvest, pull out the plant and cut off all the branches. Then rip off the individual heads and clean them. That’s it!

If you watch the video up above, you’ll see how easy it is to snap them off.

In the kitchen, wash the brussels sprouts off, cutting off the ends and any sketchy looking bits. Then either eat them that evening or put them in a bag to freeze.

As for eating them, I like to keep it simple and roast them in the oil with a little salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and garlic powder.

So that’s how you grow brussels sprouts from seed. All is really takes is knowing the right timing and protecting it from bugs from day 1.

I’d love to know in the comments if you have any additional growing tips to share. Please mention what zone you’re in, as it helps other readers. Thanks!

NEED HELP IN THE GARDEN?

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Happy gardening!

15 Fast Growing Vegetables (Plus 7 You Should Avoid)

Do you live in a short growing season, or find yourself starting a garden later in the season than you planned? Don’t worry, there are lots of vegetables you can still grow in a short amount of time. In this post, I’ll give you a list with pictures of the best vegetable seeds to grow for fresh vegetables as fast as possible.

Sprouts: 2-7 Days

If you need greens in a hurry, sprouting is your answer! Depending on the type of seeds you choose, your sprouts can be ready in as little as two days, and up to 7. The other great thing about sprouting is that you don’t need natural light in your house. Sprouts actually prefer a darker spot to grow.

Click here for instructions and important tips.

Arugula: 20-40 Days

The Rocket variety of arugula is the quickest, and delicious in salads, on pizza, eggs, or lightly fried in butter.

Spinach: 30 Days

Spinach is a quick growing, cool weather loving crop. Try planting seeds as soon as the ground is workable after the snow is melted. There are many varieties of spinach you can grow, but I have had the best success with Bloomsdale.

Green Onions: 30 Days

While onions grown from seed take a long time to mature, you can always use them as green onions in as little as 30 days. You can also clip off some of the greens while the plant is growing. It provides two benefits–you get to eat the greens now, and it helps send more energy to develop the bulb.

Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

Bok Choi and Other Asian Greens: 30-50 Days

Grow Asian greens so you can eat delicious and healthy greens in a hurry. Try book choi or pak choi. Harvest them at the baby stage, or wait until they’re full grown. Either way they’re delicious!

Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

Endive: 30-50 Days

I tried endives for the first time on a trip to Luxembourg and they were delicious! When you think endive, you probably think salad, but they are extremely delicious roasted with butter or cream sauce.

Radishes: 30-45 Days

Sow radishes as soon as the ground is workable for best results. Plant only a small amount (16-32 seeds) and sow every two weeks for a continuous supply in the Spring and Fall. Radishes will bolt in the heat, so avoid planting in summer, or try a shade cloth if you must.

Kohlrabi: 30-50 Days

Kohlrabi is a very versatile vegetable. It can be eaten raw or cooked, and the leaves are edible too!

Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

Swiss Chard: 40-60 Days

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll know that growing Swiss Chard is a constant struggle for me. It’s one of my favourite vegetables, but the neighbourhood birds have also decided that it’s their favourite too. So we’re in a constant battle of who gets it first. Spoiler alert–the birds usually win.

Use Swiss Chard cooked in omelettes, in a quiche, or fried in butter with other vegetables. My favourite variety is Bright Lights, but I’ve had the most success growing Fordhook Giant.

Here’s the 10 Easiest Vegetables for Beginners to Start Growing in their Garden.

Lettuce: 50 Days

I love growing lettuce because there are so many different varieties in a rainbow of colours. Clockwise: Drunken Woman, Romaine, Deer Tongue, and Kale (not a lettuce variety, actual kale).

Kale: 50 Days

Kale is a cool weather loving vegetable that gets sweeter in the first cool days of fall. Some varieties will survive up until -10 degrees Celsius, and any variety I’ve grown can handle up to -5 degrees Celsius.

This cooked dish is my favourite way to eat kale.

Bush Beans: 40-60 Days

Once bush beens start producing, they usually come fast and furious. Plant a new crop every 3 weeks for a constant supply in the summer.

Turnips: 40-60 Days

Turnips are one of the quickest root vegetables you can grow, and possibly one of the prettiest. I like this globe top variety that’s pictured. Eat them roasted or mashed.

P.S. My soil probably has too much nitrogen in it, because the leaves are giant and the these are the biggest turnips I was able to grow that year. But if I was growing for the leaves, this would be awesome.

Beets: 40-70 Days

Different beet varieties have different lengths of maturity. Thin out your row and eat the baby beets while you’re waiting for the longer-growing varieties to mature. The leaves are also delicious in this casserole.

If you’re not a fan of the typical beet taste, plant the sweeter and milder varieties of golden beets. My favourites are Bolodor (golden) and Bulls Blood (purple). I also personally prefer the cylindrical beets, as I find they’re easier to harvest.

Peas: 50-70 Days

I love peas, but personally have the worst time growing them. Make sure you provide peas with a trellis, and pick them every second day once they start to mature.

My favourite variety for fresh eating and storing is Green Arrow.

Photo by Jessica Ruscello on Unsplash

Some exceptions to the List

When you’re out seed shopping, you might be able to find some varieties of vegetables not on this list that have dates to maturity around 60 days or less. For example, there are some varieties of tomatoes that are ready around the 50-60 day mark, like Early Girl or Arctic. You can also find cucumbers like the Russian variety that are mature around 55 days.

However, because these vegetables like the heat, they might not produce as well if you’re trying to grow them at the end of the growing season. If you’re planting them at the beginning of the season hoping to have a harvest sooner than usual, then they will be fine.

Long Season Vegetables That Won’t Work When You’re Short on Time

On the flip side, if you’re a new gardener, you might not know which vegetables are a no-go when you’re short on time. Here’s a quick list of vegetables that would be difficult to impossible to grow in a time period of two months or less:

  • Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Pumpkins
  • Squash
  • Artichoke
  • Cabbage
  • Brussel Sprouts

Don’t Forget Flowers!

Even if you don’t have a lot of time to grow a vegetable garden, it’s always a good idea to plant a few flowers with the vegetable garden to encourage bees and other pollinators to visit your vegetables. In general, blue, purple, and yellow flowers encourage bees, but here’s a whole list of flowers you can try.

Which fast-growing vegetable will you try?

Indoor Seed Starting Schedule for Easy Vegetables & Flowers

Starting seeds indoors is fun, but it can quickly get complicated when you’re trying to figure out when to start flowers, vegetables, and herbs indoors. There’s no one-size-fits-all general guidelines, and many plants have a range of weeks that they can be started.

In this post I’ll break it down and show you the best (read: easiest) seeds to start indoors, when to start them indoors, and keep it easy with pretty charts for each week.

A few disclaimers before we start–I personally garden in zone 3, so my seed starting schedule will best suit zones 2, 3, 4, and 5, because we share a similar shorter growing season.

In zone 3 it is very difficult to stagger seed and have dedicated plantings for spring and fall crops. Because of the short amount of time, most plants get planted all at once or just a few weeks apart. However, the amount of time the seed needs to be started indoors before the last frost date should work for you, no matter where in the world you garden.

I’m going to assume that you already know the basics of seed starting indoors with a grow light. If you don’t have a grow light and need to start from a window, read this post. If you don’t have decent light or space in your home, you might enjoy trying this unusual method of seed starting.

With that out of the way, let’s figure out your indoor seed starting schedule!

Is it too late to start seeds indoors?

To find the answer to that question, you’ll need to know your last Spring Frost date. You can find yours in Canada here, or in the US here. From that date, you’ll count backwards to whatever date it currently is that you’re reading this post. For example, if your last frost date is May 21st, and you’re currently reading this on April 1st, you have 7 weeks left, and can probably start most of the plants you’re hoping to start, with a few exceptions.

Some plants like broccoli, cauliflower, zinnias, and marigolds can be both seed started and direct sown, and have a lot of flexibility in timing. Other plants like peppers, tomatoes, artichokes, and others that love heat and require a long growing season are much less flexible and can be direct seeded only in the very warmest growing zones.

My friend Julia from Julia Dimakos, Gardening Girl, has a wonderful seed starting chart that you can personalize to wherever you live.

This is me with most of the seeds I started in Spring 2019.

What are the best seeds to start indoors?

I’m going to answer this question by not answering it–instead, I’ll tell you the seeds that you really shouldn’t start indoors. Every other vegetable (and most flowers) can likely be started indoors.

Do not seed start. . . .

  • Corn
  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Turnips
  • Radishes
  • Peas
  • Beans
  • Amaranthus
  • Spinach
  • Potatoes

In general, root vegetables should not be started indoors, with the exception of onions if you are starting them from seed and not bulbs. I do not recommend complete beginners start onions from seed, as it’s a very long 2 year process. Please save yourself the headache and buy onions in the little bulb form instead.

Update: Now of course, once I posted this list, a bunch of people wrote to me in disagreement. You can seed start all of the things on this list if you really want to. But I personally wouldn’t.

Okay, But What Are the Easiest Vegetables to Start Indoors?

Beginner gardeners can have good success with seed starting peppers and tomatoes. As for flowers, you can’t go wrong with marigolds, zinnia, cosmos, and calendula.

I personally have found it very difficult to start cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. It has taken me 4 years of trying to finally grow decent seedlings, and even then, they were more stretched out than I would have liked.

Seed Starting Timelines

Here are some fun graphics I’ve created to help you know exactly when to start some of the most common vegetables and flowers.

I also go into more detail about when to start vegetables in my Growing Roots Gardening Guide, and when to start cut flowers in Cut Flowers Made Simple.

In general, the flowers and vegetables that need to be started at 10 weeks, 8 weeks, and 6 weeks, can not be direct seeded successfully in colder climates with short growing seasons. Or it they are successful, they will only bloom/ripen at the very tail end of the season.

The flowers and vegetables listed in the 4 weeks section could all be direct seeded.

It’s also okay to start these seeds the week after they are listed. For example, it’s okay to start Week 10 seeds in Week 9, Week 8 seeds in Week 7, and so on.

I hope this little seed starting guide helps you on your gardening adventures. What will you be seed starting this year?

Avoid These 8 Mistakes for a Better Vegetable Container Garden

This year I had visions of a beautiful container garden filled with vegetables on my back deck.  I would make it interesting by adding flowers to some of the pots and create a space that was both beautiful and edible.  However, my dreams and reality did not meet.  Here’s the mistakes I made and how you can learn from them.

Really quick gardening disclaimer: I garden in zone 3b in Saskatchewan, Canada, and as such, my gardening advice is best suited to the Canadian Prairies.  While I try to make my gardening tips applicable to as many locations as possible, it is impossible to be 100% relevant to every single zone in North America and beyond.  Thanks for understanding!

Second disclaimer: Nobody really wants to see pictures of practically dead plants.  The pictures here are of my pots when they last looked good, around the mid-point of the growing season.  They went downhill shortly after.

Do you dream of having a container vegetable garden on your patio, balcony, or other small space? Gardening in pots can be tricky for beginners--here's 8 mistakes you'll want to avoid. #gardening #containergardening #pots #vegetables #vegetablegardening #beginners #plantcare
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DIY Seed Starting from Your Window

When I was a little girl my Grandmother started marigolds every winter in a little modified milk garden planter with her seeds from last year’s crop.  I loved those marigolds in her brick planters and still think of her every time I see a marigold.

You really don’t need a grow light or other expensive equipment to start seeds. Seed starting from your window is relatively easy, but there are some limitations.

[Read more…]

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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