When to plant broccoli sprouts?

[cbar]

I'm in suburban NY State and last year planted some b-sprouts in April. I got good plants with nice sprouts but they never developed enough to harvest by the time the snows came in December.

I'm going to try it again this year and would like some opinions on when to plant. Right now it still goes well below freezing at night but goes to the 40's or 50's during the day. Any suggestions are welcome!

[jal_ut]

All of the cole crops can be planted direct seeded in the garden as early as the ground is workable in the spring. I will warn you that bugs like the cole crops so be prepared to deal with the bugs from the day of planting.

[rainbowgardener]

Broccoli sprouts? Do you perhaps mean brussels sprouts?

Broccoli is most often started indoors from seed, then transplanted into the garden. I'm getting mine hardened off now to get ready to transplant into the garden soon. It is pretty cold hardy and can tolerate some frost. But it will be about done by late May, it doesn't grow through the summer.

Brussels sprouts are much more slow growing. Are you talking about when to plant seeds outdoors or when to transplant plants to outdoors? Are you in zone 5? 4? I don't grow brussels sprouts myself, but I think they usually say to transplant plants into the garden early June to grow through the summer and then be harvested after there have been some frosts in the fall. If you are direct seeding in the ground, I'd plant the seed a month or so earlier than that. I think starting earlier doesn't really help them, because they would be of a size to start producing when it is hot, but they don't produce when it is hot...

[garden5]

Like RBG said, with broccoli, you usually plan out transplants around Apr. not really seeds. Did you plant seeds last year? Perhaps that's why you had limited success.

If it's too late for you to start you own, you may be better off buying transplants from a good nursery.

[cbar]

You can see it's been a long winter! Thanks for the tips.