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Growing cauliflower
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Cauliflower beginning to grow
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This is one of those strange vegetables that you know is good for you
and you should eat more of but how do you make it interesting? Smother
it in a cheese sauce or toss it into a stir-fry. There are heaps of cooking
opportunities for this versatile vegetable.
And if you didn't know, the white curds of the cauliflower is actually
tightly packed immature flower buds.
Growing conditions
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They like a free draining soil and prefer growing in cooler conditions.
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Cauliflower loves a heavily manured soil which has been limed.
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In a 4 bed rotation system cauliflower
is grown with broccoli and cabbage, following or before peas and beans.
Garden care
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You can directly sow cauliflower seeds into their bed or into seed
raising mix (our preference).
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Seedlings are transplanted out into the garden after they've got
their first two true leaves. Cauliflowers take up a lot of space so
leave at least 60cm (two feet) between plants.
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Cauliflowers need the same garden care as their brassica brothers,
the cabbage and broccoli.
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This vegetable has very demanding nutritional needs so feed them
fortnightly with a potash and liquid manure mix.
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Keep the water up to your cauliflowers, especially if things start
warming up. Remember to water the soil, avoiding the white head.
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Never let anyone tell you that it's impossible to grow cauliflowers
in containers. You can because we've done it in the past. Just make
sure you use a mini cauliflower variety, and give them plenty of space
for their roots. We discovered this when container gardening during
the first time we'd harvested cauliflower. We pulled the whole plant
from the container. The roots had woven themselves so thickly through
the potting mix that there was absolutely nothing left at all in the
container. We had to shake the potting mix out of the roots for a
couple of minutes. The roots really shocked us. But when we cooked
our cauli it tasted beautiful!
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When the white cauliflower head starts developing you'll need to
protect it from the sun and rain. Tie two leaves together using rubber
bands. This will blanche the head. Otherwise it goes brown. Tie bigger
leaves together as the head grows.
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When it comes to pests watch for caterpillars and spray every 10-14
days with Bt (Bacillus Thuringienis var. Kurstaki). Don't forget
to reapply if it rains.
Harvest time
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It usually takes around 4 months for a cauliflower to reach maturity.
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Harvest the head around 20cm (8 inches). Heads bigger than this may
discolour and lose their firmness.
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Pull the whole plant from the ground. Cut the cauliflower head off
and compost the rest.
Last Updated
17 November, 2008
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