Vegetable Gardening (60 page)

‘DeCicco':
This heirloom, old-fashioned Italian variety produces a 3-inch-diameter main head and multiple side shoots in 48 days and has tender leaves and stems.

‘Green Magic':
This early-maturing hybrid broccoli is very heat tolerant, making it a good summer and fall crop. The plant produces a 6-inch-diameter head in 57 days.

‘Packman':
A hybrid, this variety produces a 9-inch-diameter main head earlier (52 days) than other large-headed varieties such as ‘Premium Crop'. It also has excellent side-shoot production and heat tolerance.

‘Premium Crop':
An All-America Selections (AAS) winner (see Chapter 4 for more about this designation), this hybrid broccoli produces a large, 9-inch-diameter head late in the season (after 62 days). However, it's slow to flower, so you don't have to rush to pick it.

‘Purple Sprouting':
This Italian heirloom produces a 2-foot-tall plant with multiple 3-inch-diameter purple heads late in the season (after 125 days). It's best grown in cool northern areas to mature in late fall. Or, in mild-winter climates, you can plant it in fall and grow it through the winter to mature in early spring. (Refer to the section "Giving cole crops what they want," later in this chapter, for planting tips.) The head turns green upon cooking.

‘Small Miracle':
This early hybrid variety grows less than 1-foot- tall, so the plants only need to be spaced 8 inches apart, which makes this variety great for small gardens. It produces 6- to 8-inch heads in 55 days.

Brussels sprouts: The little cabbages

Rows of Brussels sprout stems standing tall in the garden loaded with sprouts are a sure sign of fall. Although the sprouts take a whole season to mature, they're relatively maintenance-free, and the sprouts turn a sweet, nutty flavor after they're touched by cold weather.

To the untrained eye, a Brussels sprout plant can look like a strange life-form from another planet. Small, cabbagelike sprouts grow in clusters along the 3-foot-tall stem, and often gardeners remove most of the leaves so that the sprouts grow larger. The plants look like miniature palm trees (see Figure 9-1), with mini-cabbages on the stalk. In fact, if you like cabbage, you'll love the similar flavor of the smaller and more manageable Brussels sprouts.

The key to growing Brussels sprouts is having a long growing season and a cool fall to induce the best flavor. The flavor actually benefits from a light frost.

The following varieties are widely adaptable and worth a try in any garden. The days to maturity are from setting out seedlings to first harvest. Add 20 days to the maturity if direct seeding into the garden.

‘Diablo':
This hybrid is a standout in American and European gardens. The 3-foot-tall plants produce heavy crops of medium-sized sprouts later in the season (after 110 days). The sprouts stay firm when mature and hold well in the garden (can be left on the plant in the garden until you need them in the kitchen).

‘Jade Cross E':
A hybrid AAS winner, this variety's 21/2-foot-tall plants produce good-sized sprouts all the way up their stalks in 90 days.