How to grow cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts

The brassica family of vegetables includes these nutrient-packed powerhouses: cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. Here are some tips on growing brassicas in your garden.

Pack more broccoli into the same space

• Plant seedlings only 20 centimetres apart. Although the heads will be smaller, the total yield will be up to twice that of the recommended 45 to 60 centimetre spacing.
• Broccoli is a heavy feeder, so use plenty of compost, add lime if the soil is naturally acidic, and rake in 450 grams of 5-10-10 fertilizer for every eight metres (25 feet) of row.

Get a second harvest

• If you give plants wider spacing, you can often harvest small secondary heads after the first head is cut.
• Always use angled cuts on the stalks so that rain or other moisture doesn't collect on the butt of the stem and set plant-killing rot into motion.

Try an offbeat broccoli

• Two plants related to the familiar green-heading broccoli are becoming more popular. Broccoli raab, from Italy, has succulent leaves and button-size florets.
• Flowering gailon, also called Oriental broccoli, has leaves and buds with a sweet broccoli flavour.

Both can be grown from seed sown directly in the garden first thing in spring.

Feed your cabbage

• Unless your soil is especially rich, fertilize your cabbage crop once a month by scattering a band of 10-10-10 fertilizer — or high-nitrogen organic fertilizer — in a band 15 centimetres wide around the base of each cabbage plant.

Watch for white butterflies

• If you see white butterflies flitting among your cabbage, check the undersides of leaves for small yellow eggs. These will hatch into velvety green cabbage-worms.
• They are easily controlled by applying Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticide, which is harmless to earthworms and beneficial insects.
• Reapply every seven to 10 days, especially after a good rain.

A season-stretching veggie

Brussels sprouts are tailor-made for the tail end of the season because cold temperatures bring out the best in the sprouts' sweet, nutty flavour.

• Start seeds indoors in midsummer and set the seedlings in the garden eight to 10 weeks before your first fall frost.
• The plants will keep growing after that, and they can even withstand hard freezes.

Give them plenty of legroom 

Brussels sprouts need rich soil, full sun, and lots of space — 60 centimetres — between plants.

• While the plants are young, fill spaces between them with quick crops of lettuce and radishes.

Help out your sprouts

• A few days before harvesting sprouts, snap off a few of the lowest leaves to give the sprouts more room to grow.
• A month before harsh winter weather arrives, lop off the top 10 centimetres from each plant to help them hurry to produce big sprouts.

Give cauliflower a stress-free life

The "queen of the brassicas" is a temperamental beauty that must grow quickly without any stress.

• Set out seedlings before they become root bound, and time plantings to avoid both cold and heat.
• Set out your spring crop at about the time of your last frost, and plant fall cauliflower about 10 weeks before the first frost is expected.

Try unusual varieties

You can buy white cauliflower in stores, so why not grow unique yellow, purple, or lime green varieties in your garden?

• Yellow-orange 'Cheddar' looks as if it's already been buttered, and purple 'Violet Queen' turns green when it's cooked.