Gardening Tips: Christmas Vegetables

If you don’t grow your own vegetables already then perhaps as you sit down to Christmas dinner make a point of having your own vegetables on the table this time next year especially your own delicious Brussel Sprouts straight from your own garden or allotment. The weather over Christmas looks mild but possibly wet so perhaps not the best conditions for digging and introducing manure but now is the time if you want the manure broken down in time for spring sowing. Brussel Sprout seeds can be sown directly in to the soil or sown in seed trays. By sowing in to seed trays it will allow you to move or cover the seed and young plants from spring frosts, if plants are sown in to the soil be sure to cover with a horticulture fleece to protect from spring frosts, it is sometimes better to do this with later varieties if you are sowing directly in to prepared soil. The horticulture fleece is also useful to keep off birds and insects. There are a few Brussel Sprout seed varieties to choose from but best to pick a variety that indicates good resistance to disease and pay attention to when you want to harvest as some good varieties are available now allowing harvest time to be much later in the season providing fresh sprouts for the dinner table around Christmas time. If pests become prevalent and start to feed on plants, then an insecticide may be necessary but perhaps persist with the horticulture fleece if possible. Brussel Sprouts are also prone to what is called Club Root, this is when the root of the plant becomes swollen, initial visual evidence of this is the plant leaves will turn yellow and begin to wilt and can cause the plants to die. To avoid this problem first dig in manure in the autumn until now and a few weeks prior to planting make an application of garden lime to your plots as this will assist in preparing the soil to be more alkaline as Brussel Sprouts prefer the pH in the soil to be around 6.5. Advance preparation in this way significantly helps the crop. Once you have sown the seed in spring it will take 7-10 days before germination and once plants have reached 5 – 6 inches they are ready to be transplanted to allow more space between plants, depending on your table requirements at harvest time but each plant produces a good number of sprouts. The space between plants is important to allow air to move around and this reduces the risk of fungal disease where plants are crammed together. Remove any weeds from around the plant and keep the soil firm to support the plant. As it grows the stalk becomes heavy so therefore will require support to keep it upright and allow sprouts to develop. Keep the plants fertile with light amounts of liquid feed nitrogen throughout the summer months. When harvesting, it is best to remove sprouts from the bottom of the plant, best to leave on the plant if possible. Happy Christmas!