You have to look at the days to maturity (often it's printed on the seed packet) and then work backwards from the date you want to harvest. It's kind of tricky though as the growing conditions in any year (weather) will speed up or slow down the time it takes to mature. In most cases I would say allow 4 months from sowing to harvest, but there are some hybrids out there promising a bit faster maturity.

Some plants have been bred to mature most/all the sprouts at once and others mature them in a staggered fashion.

The good news is that brussels generally will last at least a few weeks from the time they are ready to the time they start to loosen up instead of remaining tight particularly in cooling weather. Many folks like them once they start to open though.

I generally steam brussels and couldn't tell the difference between fresh and the ones I froze, but maybe that's just my taste buds. Leaving the plants outside to get hit by a few frosts can't sweeten their flavor a bit, but I have enjoyed the ones I harvested in the heat of summer as well.

Sprouts will keep quite a while if you have an unheated shed or outbuilding. Just pull up the entire plant roots and all and hang it upside down. Pick the sprouts as you need them.

Hi,

I am going on one year of experience. Our brussel sprouts were marvelous, and productive. We still have a few left in the freezer. Blanche for about 3 mins. I noticed no difference in taste between fresh and frozen. Our garden brussels are better than the grocery's frozen brussels. We don't have the bitter taste. Each variety tastes different. We bought some last year at a farmer's market and those were better than our's, but our's were very good.

We started harvesting a few in October for a couple meals. Then as it started to cool down in November I pulled the plants out and brought the stalks indoors, pulled the sprouts off and blanched. I grow roses which involves a lot of springtime work. I get my vegetables in late. I think we planted some starter plants late in May or early in June.

This year I have started plants indoors near a window in my unheated garage. Brussels are very cold resistant. They will tolerate a freeze down to 20 F easily with no damage, and many says with improvement in taste. They have started right off in my cold garage.

We have rabbit problems and the advice there is to suround the plant with a toilet paper tube.

Good Luck

Mark

I've had some growing all winter but now
they are starting to bolt.
Should I cut the blooms off or not?
They are just now starting to make sprouts...in
a shady place.

thanky
weazle