Digital Waves

Cauliflowers have a reputation for being particularly hard to grow, however if you follow these simple steps you can be eating homegrown cauliflowers easily.

Preparation

One of the most important steps is preparing the bed, brassicas require a mildly alkali soil.  Buy yourself a PH tester and if necessary add a little lime to raise the PH to approximately 7.5.

Thoroughly dig in a general-purpose fertiliser a week before planting out (make sure this is at least two weeks after you added the lime).

Hardening off

If the seeds have been grown in a green house or using a propagator, ensure the seedlings are properly hardened off before transplanting.  If cauliflower seedlings are transplanted straight from a warm, controlled temperature environment to outside it can stunt their growth significantly.  Unfortunately with cauliflowers this can mean that the hearts never form at all.

Cabbage Collars

Cabbage (or brassica) collars prevent the dreaded cabbage root fly pupae from getting access to the roots of the cauliflower.  They can be bought cheaply and are highly effective.

Netting

Net your crop well, there is nothing worse than suddenly finding a plague of caterpillars eating their way through your cauliflowers.  The netting will also keep out the pigeons and other unwelcome wildlife intent on feeding on your prized crops.

Feeding & Watering

Cauliflowers are hungry crops and will do best with the regular addition of a high nitrogen fertiliser.  During dry periods ensure you water regularly, sporadic watering can cause of tiny golf ball size heads.

Slug control

Slugs can be every gardener’s worst nightmare, slugs particularly love the tender leaves of brassicas and given the chance, they’ll devour the hearts as well.  There are a number of methods of slug control, however Nemaslug Slug Killer is particularly effective for a minimum of effort.

Harvesting

As frequently happens when growing vegetables, cauliflowers have a tendency to all mature at the same time.  To prevent a glut, start harvesting the cauliflowers when still small (from about the size of a fist).