| Growing Brussels Sprouts: It Takes Time |
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By Lindsay Bond Totten
Scripps Howard News Service Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are memories, yet recent enough for us to recall what was served. If there were fresh vegetables on the table, were any from your garden? What a joy it is for cooks who garden to harvest part of the holiday meal from the backyard! Have you ever noticed how the taste buds perk up when the cook announces, "I grew these myself"? Any number of vegetables for the traditional year-end feasts might be gathered from storage bins in the cellar (these still count as fresh): potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, turnips, rutabagas and carrots. With luck, and a warm autumn, baby greens could be tickling the top of the cold frame, ready for harvest by Thanksgiving from seeds sown in late September. But there are two very special vegetables that, until the day before Christmas, could actually have been growing in the garden. They might appear on the holiday table in the form of braised leeks topped with seasoned bread crumbs, or a steaming dish of succulent Brussels sprouts with lemon and walnuts. Why the tease? Because it's not too early to start planning for next year's holiday dinner if you want leeks or Brussels sprouts on your holiday table. Dismissed by many gardeners as just "too fussy," neither vegetable is really very difficult to grow. What they do take is time, and that starts with fresh seeds, which is why this "heads up" in January. The best source of seed for both leeks and Brussels sprouts is Thompson and Morgan. Though the return address is listed as New Jersey (P.O. Box 1308, Jackson, NJ 08527), descriptions for "courgette" (zucchini) and "aubergine" (eggplant) in their "catalogue" reveal the firm's British ties. And no one knows leeks and Brussels sprouts like British gardeners. Where American seed companies may offer one or two varieties of each, Thompson and Morgan lists five varieties of Brussels sprouts, including a novelty purple-red sprout called 'Falstaff,' as well as seven types of leeks. Whether it's due to the climate in England or to the competitive nature of its gardeners, T & M is always the first seed catalog of the new season to arrive. The 2002 issue hit my mailbox on Oct. 31. Don't procrastinate if there's something you really want from Thompson and Morgan, like seeds of leeks or Brussels sprouts. British gardeners have had two months' head start, and they must order early, because "SOLD OUT" on a particular variety is not an uncommon response to orders postmarked after the first of the year. Once you have the seeds, relax for a bit. Leeks don't need to be sown until March, Brussels sprouts about a month later. There's no great hurry to get either one into the ground. Brussels sprouts, transplanted to the garden in June, will take till autumn to produce tender green globes at the base of the stalks. Harvest these beginning in October. As the temperature cools, plants will continue to mature slowly. Light frost makes the sprouts even sweeter. The tops may grow heavy as the sprouts swell, so be prepared to stake each plant. To protect from serious freezing, erect a small cage of chicken wire around each sprout-laden stalk, then pack the cage loosely with leaves or straw. Water the plants thoroughly if autumn has been dry - moisture provides a few degrees of frost protection for the roots. Add enough leaves or straw to the cage to keep the sprouts at the top covered. Brussels sprouts last easily till Thanksgiving and usually till Christmas in USDA Zone 5b. If temperatures are unseasonably cold, sprouts can be harvested and stored in a cool place for a couple of weeks. Even if they freeze hard, sprouts can be delicious if they're prepared within a few hours of harvesting. Treat leek seedlings much as you would a long-season onion. Start with a deep trench of well-prepared soil, filling the depression gradually as the roots and tops elongate. Start mounding the soil after reaching the surrounding grade. The richer the soil and the deeper the mound, the longer and fatter the white parts of the leeks will be. The soil will prevent the roots from freezing. Leeks should keep perfectly well in their underground nest - some gardeners bury them beneath a thick layer of mulch in addition to the mounding - till the holidays. Be sure to provide plenty of water if the season is dry. (Lindsay Bond Totten, a horticulturist, writes about gardening for Scripps Howard News Service.)
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