Hi, what's the consensus of placement with brassicas if separate areas are available? My research answers are all over the board regarding nutrients, cross pollination etc.

Thanks in advance for your experience.

Size of the plants would be the main factor. Big plants can shade out small ones. Cross pollination is a problem only if you are a seed saver. Even then the plants have to be the same species to cross. Separate areas would need to about a quarter mile away to prevent cross pollination. Brassicas are insect pollinated insects cover quite a territory when they are feeding. Most brassicas have similar nutrient requirements.

Hi Rebecca,
You have good questions. I grow lots of brassicas,... broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, Chinese cabbages, radishes, kale, a mustard or two and a couple more. They need to be grown during cooler weather in the spring or the fall. We don't often have a real spring or fall here in Arizona so my planting schedule has to be adaptable. If I plant in the spring it gets hot too quickly and they just bolt so I usually start the seeds in the shade in late July or August and plant out in late September. I have almost never gotten a harvest in 75-90 days as the seed catalogs claim. But they grow very well but slowly here in winter even now when the temps go down into the 20s and 30s every night. My broccoli, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower are just now starting to head up and I will be harvesting in about a month. So, they grow differently in every different climate.

I rotate my crops so if I am planting in a bigger bed, like 15x20 I plant all my brassicas together. So I won't plant them there again for another 3 years. Farmerdill is right that they all require about the same nutrients so I fertilize them at the same time if they need it. And depending on the varieties, some stay small but they often grow to be around 3' tall and wide. Big plants.

I only grow heirlooms so I can save my seeds. Brassicas are biennials so you can harvest them one year or leave some in ground to flower and seed the next year. You should always save seeds from at least 6 plants so you have genetic diversity. So.... I might plant 6 cauliflower, 6 purple cabbages, 6 purple broccoli and 12 green broccoli. I will harvest all of the first three and 6 of the green broccoli and leave 6 in ground in a corner so they will bolt this summer and go to seed. So they do take up a good bit of space for 18 months or so. If stored properly the seeds remain viable for 4 years or longer so each year I can collect seeds from just one of them and not worry about having them keep their distance. And as Farmerdill said, they have to be kept far apart so they won't cross if you decide to save seeds from all of them at the same time. These 4 will cross with each other but not with mustards or turnips. This is a good chart to go by.
http://www.seedsaversalliance....

Hope this helps. Happy gardening.

Good Morning! Thanks to both of you for the response and for the great detail. Reading your personal experiences as well as knowledge is so valuable and encouraging.