Sprouts and Caulies

[keat63]

Just buying my seed stock ready for the new season and I'm looking for some advice on sprout and cauli varieties (i asked once about cauliflower, but this was yonks ago).

Both my sprouts (unkown variety) and Cauliflower (all year round), have been pretty poor.
We got a few sprouts for christmas dinner, but most had blown.
Cauliflowers, we've not had a single one in two seasons
I've given up on 'all year round' cauliflower

So I'm asking for recommendations for a firm cauliflower variety, less prone to blowing, and similar on the sprouts.

[burnie]

We did well with the green Romanesc variety of Cauli and it's also edible, I find the white ones nasty tasting.

[veggiechicken]

I can't help with varieties as I don't have much joy with either but here's your earlier thread with a few recommendations from greenishfing

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ety_99804.html

[Penellype]

My experience with sprouts dates back to when my Mum used to grow them - they were always full of grey cabbage aphid. I don't like them enough to warrant giving them the space.

On the other hand I love cauliflower but find them very hard to grow from seed. The variety I have had the most success with is Snowball - I have some overwintering in my growhouse and I'm currently looking at approximately 50% survival rate. The others have keeled over and died, which is common. With cauliflowers it is essential to plant them firmly, and you will get only a few days from when the head appears before it starts to blow. It freezes well if you blanch it (and I mean drop it into boiling water and drain immediately), so a good tactic is to cut the head when it is still firm and freeze it if you don't want to eat it then.

The best results I have had is from buying cauliflower Maybach plants by mail order - they arrive in March and are ready to eat in late May or June.

I would also put in a good word for Romanesco, which is reasonably reliable and you can cut individual florets from around the edge while leaving the main head to grow if you don't want to eat it all at once.

[Aberdeenplotter]

You say your previous results have been poor but that is probably more down to the growing environment than to the varieties. Brassicas are hungry plants. I use a 3 year scheme of rotation and I follow spuds with onions/shallots and then follow that with brassicas. The spuds get muck and granular fertiliser as do the onions and shallots so the brassica bed should be in good fettle when my plants go in. Yes as already said brassicas need to be well firmed in but caulies should not blow within a few days from when the head(I'm assuming it was curd that was meant) appears. if there's plenty feed and moisture in the ground then the curd should grow to a decent size within a couple of weeks of appearing and if they have blown in the past then it's likely they haven't been properly firmed in when planted.

I'm growing Merton and Boris this year but as I intended to convey earlier, most varieties should produce well.

[keat63]

This looks interesting.

https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/vege...-varieties.php

[mcdood]

Candid Charm Cauli worked great for me last year. I've failed 2 years running now with Evesham Special sprouts through blowing. Last year I made sure I firmed the ground and I staked the plants too but still not good results. I'm trying to blame the variety rather than the gardener and as we have club root on our site I'm going to try a club root resistant variety, Crispus, this year.

[keat63]

I've no doubt its the workman blaming his tools.
Just makes me think that surely commercial gowers don't walk down each row firming them in, so how can they be successful and me not.

Thanks for the heads up on the Evesham, these were on my list of contenders.

[Aberdeenplotter]

commercial growers will be highly mechanised with machines making holes, plants probably fed into the process by hand, popped into the hole mechanically and then the machine will probably squeeze the soil around the stems.

I say probably because I haven't seen this done but with the quantities being grown, it just isn't feasible to do manually these days.

I hope I didn't imply the op was at fault somehow, that wasn't my intention. I was more trying to give some guidance as to what is needed to grow Brassicas.

[burnie]

I struggle to grow brussels in my sandy soil, yet I passed a field full of them being harvested at the weekend, only a couple of miles away. I remember a lottie holder telling me years ago that most brassicas like to be exposed to the wind, as they get in an open field/lottie, but you don't get in an enclosed garden, no idea if he was right.

[mcdood]

I hope I didn't imply the op was at fault somehow, that wasn't my intention. I was more trying to give some guidance as to what is needed to grow Brassicas.

Not at all AP my quip about blaming variety rather than gardener was about me blaming the Eveshams rather than facing the reality that it's probably down to me

[keat63]

I checked my seed box and don't have any sprouts in there. I assume that my dad has these.
As for the 'All Year Round', these went in the bin.

[Bonjour]

I've generally done well with sprouts. Last lot I grew were a Continuity mix from Suttons. I can't remember the actual varieties.

Cauliflower is a different story altogether. I've tried a few varieties without much success. Those that survived and grew had very small curds which blew quickly. They were firmed in as well as they could be in sandy loam. I might have one last try this year with All the Year Round variety and give up if that fails.

[Snoop Puss]

I grew Mystique a couple of years from seed. Then for some reason I couldn't find seeds anywhere for a few years. Best flavoured, textured and sized caulis I have ever grown. F1s, so not cheap seed. But harvesting around February/March, when caulis are getting on for 3 euros apiece here, so still well worth growing. If you don't mind growing F1s, see if you can find seeds anywhere. I notice Mr Fothergills sells them as plants.

In fact, I'll go and scout around for seeds now.