Brussels palm trees?

After whacking off the tops of the Brussels sprouts a few weeks back, they've been pretty odd looking.  Since this bed is being converted to the blueberry bed, the soil has been heavily amended, and thanks to a very generous neighbor,I have a ton of pine needles for mulch.  I've read conflicting info on whether pine needles actually acidify the soil - they certainly won't hurt!

What they DO do, however, is lend sort of a strange beachy look to the bed, making the Brussels sprouts look like weird palm trees....