I am an organic farmer whose main crop for the past 20 years has consisted of bug-free words for print and online publications, from Travel & Leisure magazine to Microsoft's short-lived Sidewalk project and IDG's CXO Media.

As VP for Content & Community at Helium, I'm on the search for great crops of sentences and user-friendly verbicides, when needed. But I can't cultivate this garden alone. I have a superior staff of tenders, weeders and diggers, all supported by some of the very finest software composters I've ever worked with.

My childhood ambition ...

To be a writer

My first job ...

Writing

My best moment ...

This one.

Home & Garden > Vegetables & Herbs Tips for growing brussels sprouts

1 of 1

Right here in chilly Zone 6 in New England, brussels sprouts couldn't be happier - in the late fall, anyway, when it's nice and cool.

They are definitely a cool-weather crop (which is probably why they're usually on the table for Thanksgiving). They're especially worth growing because it's such an oddball-looking plant. Mine get so heavy, they seem to recline in the vegetable garden. Big floppy rabbit-ear leaves help to shade the little sprouts that, well, sprout along the thick stalk.

Even though they like the cool weather, they take a long time to mature. I start mine from seedl...

More..