I love Brussels sprouts. Please move on if you don’t…b/c this post is all about them and some uber-nerd techniques that I’m testing in the garden.
Here’s my favorite sweet and spicy Chinese-style recipe. YUM!
Naturally, I figured I should try to grow them…b/c why not? These are some of the coolest plants I’ve ever grown. These have been growing for about 2 years as I wanted to see what happens if you just keep letting them grow. They typically like colder temps, which is nearly impossible in So Cal, but I’ve let these go and have been harvesting year-round.
As you can see, they just keep growing and growing, with new growth coming in at the bottom where they were once harvested.
Another thing I’ve learned is that aphids absolutely LOVE brussels sprouts. I keep spraying neem oil on them, but I think it’s time to bring in some lady bugs.
That big plant on the left is over 5′ tall! (Sorry for the poor pic quality….some of these are from my phone…)
Look at how beautiful the top part of the flower is. I’ve scoured YouTube and stalked every possible person who knows about brussels. Not too many experts out there in my circles. 🙂
So I’m on a mission to experiment. Why not, right? I plucked a few off a stalk and stuck them in water to see if they’d root. 
And sure enough, they did! You can see a few garlic cloves in there, too. Yup, those are going in the ground, too.
After the brussels grew sufficient roots, I stuck them in the ground last week. I checked on them today and they seem to be doing just fine.
They look like giant cabbages, but in fact, these are about 2″ in diameter. Still pretty beefy for a brussels sprout, I’d say!
And this is where I got crazy….See in the pic below where these random flowers are sprouting down the stalk? I cut the top part of the stalk off just about those flowers to see if the bottom part will continue to grow. And the flowers that are now at the top are starting to flower more vigorously. It’s the flower leaves (which are edible, btw), that get the energy from the sun to feed the stalk. By cutting the top of the stalk, I’m hopeful that I can multiply my crop.
And to continue the experiment, I put the top part that I cut off into some hydroponics nutrients to see if they’ll root.
And they did! Check out those little roots developing…and the flower leaves are growing, too just above the roots.
I’ll keep updating this blog post with progress. In the meantime, eat your greens!
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