How to grow brussels sprouts
Brassica oleracea (Gemmifera) · Brassicaceae · Vegetable
Brussels Sprouts is a cool-season vegetable in the Brassicaceae family, usually started indoors and set out as transplants. It wants full sun (six or more hours of direct light) and consistent moisture — it resents drying out. From sowing to first pick is about 90–120 days. It is one of the toughest crops here, standing through hard frost and often improving for it.
Grower’s note: A long-season fall crop - flavour sweetens after hard frost, so plant so it matures in cold weather, not summer. Pinching out the growing tip about 3 weeks before harvest evens up sprout size.
Sowing
Sow about 0.5″ deep, into soil between 45–85°F — germination is quickest near 75°F. It comes up fast (5–10 days). For an early crop, start seed indoors about 6 weeks before your last spring frost and grow it under bright light.
Spacing & layout
Give each plant about 24″ along the row with roughly 30″ between rows. On a square-foot grid that is one plant per 2 square feet. Allow at least 24″ of loose, workable soil for the roots. It grows well in containers at least 16″ deep.
Fitting it to your season
As a cool-season crop, brussels sprouts does its best growing in the mild weather of spring and fall and tends to bolt or turn bitter in summer heat. A second sowing in late summer, timed to mature as the weather cools, is usually the better crop of the year — and light frost only sweetens it.
Quick facts
When to plant brussels sprouts
Companions
Beet, Onion, Potato, Dill, Carrot
Tomato, Pole Bean, strawberry
Common problems
Pests: cabbage worm, cabbage aphid, cabbage looper, harlequin bug.
Diseases & disorders: black rot, clubroot, downy mildew.
Same family (Brassicaceae)
Rotate these so they don’t follow each other in the same bed year to year.
Figures are typical home-garden ranges from Cooperative Extension planting guides, cross-checked against multiple state sources. Your variety and conditions will vary.