New to cauliflowers!!

[selfraising]

Hello
I've decided to have a go at cauliflowers this year having never grown them before. I have decided to grow cauliflower Aalsmeer. Has anyone grown this variety before? I am hoping that I can grow it as a winter veg, so would a June sowing be okay. Any other tips for cauliflower growing?

[BrideXIII]

new to caulis myself, but chickened out of growing real ones, so i am doing romanesco instead, cos we really like those.

[selfraising]

Whats Romanesco?

[BrideXIII]

Whats Romanesco?

a very tasty cross between broccolli and cauliflower, but they look amazing too!!

[selfraising]

Wow they look interesting? I take it they're easy to grow? What do you do?

[Eco-Chic]

The first thing I ever grew in my garden (1982) was a row of cauliflowers from plantlets.

I must have had mega beginner's luck because I didn't start growing anything until the end of August and I had a half dozen lovely caulis. Soil was orange clay and I got the idea from somewhere that Caulis would break up the soil.

I dug planting holes, threw in some dry dirt (John Innes) firmed them in, puddled them in and ignored them. Away they grew and no nasty caterpillars either.

[Eyren]

Any other tips for cauliflower growing?

Yes - net brassicas against cabbage white butterflies in late spring/early summer and keep it on until autumn. Last year was my first growing summer brassicas, and though I managed to save my romanesco, the "Munchen Bier" radishes that I was growing for pods were devastated

http://garden.annelyle.com/2008/08/snack_attack.html

This is my first year with proper caulis - I'm growing Igloo as there's only two of us so baby caulis are more useful. Romanesco is pretty easy to grow, at least in a mild damp year like the last two! (Though my "Ottobrino" romanesco took a lot longer to grow than expected and wasn't ready in October despite its name.)

[TEB]

Caulis like an alkaline soil amd will benefit from some Lime (dont Lime if you have manured), they like (need) a firm soil and as others have mentioned watch out for the cabbage white butterfly

[selfraising]

Hi thanks for all the advice everyone. Last year I tried broccoli but when I cooked some of it, there were dead caterpillars in the water, it was disgusting so chucked the whole lot out, they must have gone right inside the floret. I did net them but perhaps I did it too late. I have neutral soil, will it be okay just to add manure and if so how much should I put in and do I need to do it a certain time in advance of planting?
I like the idea of baby caulis because only me and my hubby like them, perhaps I'll try those instead, less wastage.

[selfraising]

Eyren can the baby caulis be spaced closer together?

[Eyren]

Yes, at least with some varieties:

Cauliflower Igloo Seeds

A versatile early variety. Grow it at close spacing for a quick crop of delicious mini heads or at wider spacing for more conventionally sized curds. Sow outdoors in March for harvestng in July.

(from allotment.org.uk)

[Eyren]

Hi thanks for all the advice everyone. Last year I tried broccoli but when I cooked some of it, there were dead caterpillars in the water, it was disgusting so chucked the whole lot out, they must have gone right inside the floret. I did net them but perhaps I did it too late. I have neutral soil, will it be okay just to add manure and if so how much should I put in and do I need to do it a certain time in advance of planting?
I like the idea of baby caulis because only me and my hubby like them, perhaps I'll try those instead, less wastage.

This year I'm going to take no chances - I'm netting my brassicas as soon as I plant them out!

If the manure is well rotted (and you shouldn't be using any other sort on the veg bed), you can either fork it into the soil or just use like a mulch after you've planted them. I would do the latter 'cos I'm lazy and prefer to let the worms do the hard work, but you would need to be careful so the manure doesn't touch the stems or they might rot.

[selfraising]

Thanks Eyren, we are definitely well rotted here!! Sorry to ask so many questions but do I have to get specific butterfly netting. I'm just wandering if the hole sizes on last years netting was too large?

[Eyren]

How big were the holes? Was your mesh touching the plants? I think either you have to use fine mesh (e.g. enviromesh) that the butterflies can't lay their eggs through, or you can get away with bigger mesh - i.e. too small for the butterflies to crawl through - if it doesn't touch the leaves.

I've got a couple of these that I plan to use to begin with:

The Organic Gardening Catalogue

They are OK for small plants - but brassicas get big quite quickly!

[selfraising]

At a guess I would say about 1/4 inch. It wasn't touching the plants but I'm wondering if there was a small gap somewhere. Those mesh tunnels look good, do you think they would be high enough for mini caulis?