Growing cauliflower tips

First things first, visit the gardenate website http://www.gardenate.com/ to check the growing season for you area. Then decide where you're are going to plant them. If you are planting the cauliflower with other vegetables then make sure they are with veggies they like to be with! 

Avoid growing cauliflower with: Climbing (pole) beans, tomato, peppers (chili, capsicum), eggplant (aubergine), strawberry, mustard.

Cauliflower are compatible with: Dwarf (bush) beans, beets, celery, cucumber, onions, marigold, nasturtium, rhubarb, aromatic herbs like sage, dill and chamomile.

Follow the instructions on the seed packet for planting depth and width etc. Not rocket science, but you would be surprised how many people get this part wrong. If you are planting into a container make sure it is big enough to accommodate a fully grown cauliflower.

Cauliflower are pretty heavy when full grown which makes it prone to being top heavy. To overcome this when planting out seedlings plant them up to where the first set of leaves start, this will make it more sturdy.

The cauliflower has very demanding nutritional needs so feed them weekly with potash, liquid seaweed or compost tea. As heads appear a drink of worm wee or liquid fish fertiliser will improve size and shape of the heads.

Watch for the white butterfly. Apparently, large pieces of eggshell can be scattered amongst cabbages to confuse the white butterfly. The theory goes that it will mistake the eggshells for other butterflies and leave the area looking for less populated plants to lay its eggs on.  

When the white cauliflower head starts developing you'll need to protect it from the sun and rain. One way to do this is to tie two leaves together over the head using rubber bands/twine to prevent the curd becoming discoloured.

Keep the water up for your cauliflowers, especially if things start warming up. Remember to water the soil, avoiding watering the white head.

When they look good enough to eat, they are! So go ahead and pull them out!

Ok... so you got a bit carried away with planting...and now you don't know what to do with them all!

Cauliflower cheese

Piccalilli

Indian spiced potato and cauliflower

Cauliflower soup

If that's not enough to wet your appetite then you could always freeze some for a rainy day! Or if you're feeling generous I'm sure the neighbours won't say no and don't forget the compost bin won't say no to the cauliflower leaves!

Happy planting!

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