Brussels Sprouts

Brassica oleracea (Gemmifera Group) 'Long Island Improved'

vegetable

Long Island Improved is the classic American open-pollinated Brussels sprout, dating to the 1890s and still a home-garden mainstay for its reliability and long, extended harvest. Compact plants about 24 in. tall produce a tall stalk densely packed with 50 to 100 firm, 1 to 2 in. sprouts that mature from the bottom up. Like all Brussels sprouts it is a long-season cool-weather crop, and the sprouts turn sweet and nutty once touched by frost - the reason it is grown for fall and early-winter harvest.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Onions — Their strong scent helps mask the brassica odor that guides cabbage pests in
• Dill — Draws parasitic wasps and ladybugs that prey on aphids and cabbage worms
• Nasturtium — Trap crop that pulls aphids away from the developing sprouts
• Beets — Use a different root zone and tuck neatly between the tall sprout plants
• Marigold — Suppresses root-knot nematodes and adds pest-confusing scent

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Cabbage worms →

  Cover with floating row cover, handpick green caterpillars, and use Bt under heavy pressure

• Cabbage aphids →

  The waxy gray aphids hide between sprouts - blast them off with water, peel infested sprouts, and plant dill for predators

• Harlequin bugs →

  Handpick the orange-and-black bugs and their striped eggs and clear brassica debris in fall

• Flea beetles →

  Row cover protects young transplants from shothole feeding

• Cabbage loopers →

  Row cover excludes the moths; Bt controls larvae when found

🌾 Harvest & storage

Sprouts mature from the bottom of the stalk upward. Start picking Long Island Improved when the lowest sprouts are firm and about 1 in. across, twisting or snapping them off and removing the leaf below each one. Harvest works up the stalk over several weeks. Flavor is dramatically better after a hard frost or two, so leave plants standing into cold weather - in mild zones you can harvest a tall stalk well into winter. The whole stalk can also be cut at once near the end of the season.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Brussels sprouts are remarkably high in vitamin C - around 85 mg per 100 g, more than an orange - and in vitamin K, with good folate, fiber, and potassium at only about 43 calories per 100 g. As a brassica they supply glucosinolates, sulfur compounds studied for cancer-protective effects. A light frost not only sweetens the sprouts but is the classic reason fall-grown sprouts taste best.