How To Grow Cauliflower?

You can grow and harvest cauliflower all year round because you have so many varieties to choose form. The cauliflower comes in the white-headed, purple, orange and green heads. The cauliflower plants need to space the plants widely so the heads can grow to fill size or you can plant them real close so the will make "mini" cauliflower. they will produce many cauliflowers if you give them a lot of food and water. Cauliflowers can be sown in the  spring, fall and winter. They can be harvest early spring, all summer, fall and winter. It takes 10-16 weeks to harvest cauliflowers. Beds and containers are suitable for cauliflower. You can sow eight plants in each containers and five to six plants  per nine feet rows. 

Varieties of Cauliflower
Snowball-this type of cauliflower is sown in spring and you will be harvesting them in the fall.

Mayflower- this one is sown in mid-winter and you will be harvesting in midsummer.

Walcheren Winter Pilgrim-This one is ready to harvest in the spring.

Violet Queen-this one has purple heads and when you cook them they will turn green.

Sowing under cover
You will need to fill your seed trays or pots with compost, water each well, and allow the water to drain out of the trays or pots. Make a 1/2 inch hold deep in each place when you are going to plant, and sow two seeds in each one. Put compost over them and water again. After they come up, they heed to be thin so you can leave the stronger seedling.

  Sow Outside
Cauliflowers has to be sown in late spring to get winter and spring cauliflower. To get your seedbed ready, you will need to turn over the soil, while you are mixing in organic matter. Make a short drill 3/4 inch deep, then you will need to water thoroughly, sow the seeds and then cover the seeds with dirt and water again. You do not want to plant cauliflower where other brassica crops have been planted for the last three years, and this will prevent a build-up of soil diseases.

Planting Out
When your tray-raised seedlings are six inches tall, they are ready to harden off the plants. You do this by placing them outside during the day and bring them back in at night for one week. After these plants are at the right height you will need to water them well, and then lift gently from the soil. Of you are planting summer varieties of cauliflower they need to be planted twenty-four inches apart
and the winter types need to be space twenty-eight inches apart.

Protection plants
After you have your transplants you will need to water well and then put aluminum foil around the base of each plant.  The next step is to place netting around the plants, and by doing this, you will deter cabbage white butterflies and pigeons. You will need to keep your cauliflowers plants hoe.

Routine Care
If you are raising your cauliflower in the summer, you will need to keep your cauliflower well-watered, so you can get  it a good-size curd. If you are growing the cauliflower in the summer, you  will need to bend a few leaves in over the head of the cauliflower to keep it from being "burnt" by the sun and this also helps in the winter types because it will help with some frost protection.

Harvesting
When the curds are harvestable size, you will need to cut them from the plant. They are best if you eat them right away, or they can be stored in the fridge for a few days, but they will keep better if you keep some leaves attached on the cauliflower. Blanch the cauliflowers and freeze your extra produce.

Here is a video to show you how to grow cauliflower: