7 Tips to Grow Great Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, and More!

Brassicas are a tricky crop that are all about timing and temperature. Mess those up, and your cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. will mature too quickly and leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, literally and figuratively! Here are some of the lessons we've learned in failing with brassicas for a few years :)

0:41 - Brassica Overview
1:36 - Timing
2:29 - Watering Tips
3:35 - Fertilizing Tips
4:30 - When to Plant
5:47 - Tying Cauliflower Leaves
7:02 - Secondary Harvests of Broccoli
7:55 - Variety Selection
8:23 - Giant Cabbage
9:03 - Cabbage Moth Prevention

IN THIS VIDEO

SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING

LEARN MORE

DISCLAIMER

[creative_grassrootsgarden]

My husband and I have converted our small backyard into a huge garden. We've been encouraged to become more self sufficient, and have recently started our own YouTube channel to help encourage others as well. Thanks for all you do, always enjoy watching 🌱

[GatlingNG]

Brassica are probably the most important vegetables to learn to grow nutrition-wise if you're after self-sustainability.

[cayleehammack]

Random thing that helped me this year; I bought a military mosquito net to hang around my leafy greens & brassicas. Not a caterpillar or slug or snail on them. I sprinkle some Diatomaceous earth occasionally but not often. Try it, it has saved me so much time not picking stuff off my Brussels!

[JoannahGillespie]

Hey, great advice! A farmer friend of mine told me not to water over plants in the middle of the day when it's very hot out, because, rather than "cooling off" the plants, the water droplets can act like little magnifying glasses and burn tiny holes into the leaves. This information would only be pertinent in places that regularly reach high temperatures in which most brassicas won't grow anyway, but I found this tip fascinating and very helpful, nonetheless.

[jeffs]

Last year I covered my brassicas with agrifabric hoop houses. Worry free. No bugs of any kind and the most beautiful leaves ever. and I've always had moth and aphid issues. This year all the brassicas will get the agrifabric and plants that need pollinating will be covered by chicken wire.

[antoinepelletier]

Nice video! Brassica are one of the easiest for me to grow in my climate, had so much bruxell sprout last year it was amazing!
Some tips for bruxell sprout that helped me:
-Pruning the leaves along the tree will help it grow taller
-Cutting the top of the plant when it is tall enough will make your bruxell sprout grow bigger

[elizabethraworth]

😰 my garden is frozen solid. It won't thaw out for months. Watching your garden videos are cheering me up.
Funny side note- my 5 year old granddaughter planted the mustard seeds from the spice rack in my houseplants. Now she is eating them.Baby brassica are so cute and tasty.

[cominginthecloudsforus]

I've learned the same thing over the last 5 years, growing in zone 7 in VA. I start seeds in June-July and transplant end of August. Also has many less pests in the fall compared to spring plantings.

We learned in fall of 2021 that we LOVE brussels sprouts. Will be doing many more of those next year. Cauliflower and Kale are our next two favorites.

[Wolf-E-Romeo]

Just learned about covering the cauliflower with its leaves. I read something about it that had confused me. But with you showing and explaining it made it clear. Thanks so much!!!

[DevonDowner]

I am so excited to see San Juan Cabbagestrano Jr’s growth this year!! You’re really showing us that gardening is about taking your “failures” (I say that very lightly) or unsuccessful crops and learning from them to have more success next time. I really need to try growing some kale this year! Thank you for always sharing your knowledge with us. 🖤🌱

[reshabriella]

Thank you for this. I live in the Caribbean and my first set of cauliflower did okay in the rainy season. We are now in the dry season and the sun is really out and bad and my new set of cauliflower just aren't here for it. Now I know what NOT to do. Good luck to San Juan Cabbagestrano Junior! We're all rooting for him!

[nicolepapole]

Yes!! This year my goal is to cover the entire bed of brassicas because the cabbage moths are the worst. I'm also going to plant them much earlier!

[ashleighking]

I never knew gardening would be so much fun to learn until your videos. Thank you for teaching me how to grow, cultivate, plan (I'm not a planner), and become a very healthy water. You are so amazing.

[Pepsithegoat]

Just needed this video. I'm in a cold zone with a really short grow season, so these cold weather crops are some of the only I can grow well!

[MeganSherow]

Hey Kevin, in regards to variety selection, there’s a killer cauliflower hybrid called Song TJS65 (Johnny’s has it!) - I grow it all year round in Hawaii (zone 12a), avg daytime temp of 75-80. It doesn’t get bitter if you forget to blanch it, the harvest window is much larger because it still tastes the same as the curds loosen a bit, AND it matures super early. Epic variety for sure!

[Gardeningchristine]

I’m definitely netting all my brassicas this year. Everything ate them last year. Slugs, snails, harlequin bugs, cabbage moths, and aphids. Barely got any harvest at all. Trying to stay away from chemicals, so hopefully netting will do the trick.

[rcrhinehart]

I have a indoor winter growing area in my home in New England but the temperatures are still too chilly to grow warm crops like basil or cilantro. My new favorite to grow and eat is leaf broccoli-Spigariello Liscia. Never heard of it until I bought some seeds mainly to round up my order for free shipping. Extremely easy to grow, pest resistant, and tastes like spinach/kale.

[alexandrameub]

Beginner gardener in a hot zone and have been scared to try brassicas until this video and your Brussel sprouts for beginners video. Gonna try it this fall/winter. Thank you for giving me the courage to mess up and learn from my mistakes for future success.

[ellenconforti]

I too learned that cabbage doesn't grow well here in Florida in the Springtime. It eventually gets too hot so I now plan for a late winter early spring harvest. But we also have a big problem with the cabbage moth so I buy the Agribon grow cover and keep them covered the whole season. I might open it when it is warm and sunny a few times but they're mostly under cover and grow beautiful.
Ellen
Florida Gardener
Zone 9a

[yvoennsche]

I am in California too and I have had good cabbage harvests if everything goes right and many fails. Main problem is that it is still hot late in the fall here further inland, so you can't start in September. If I start in late October, the November to January persephone period with low light seems to halt most growth. Then it depends on when the warm weather arrives. If it gets too warm in February, many times my cabbages don't do great. Two years ago we had a very cool spring, I had great cabbages then.