For the past two years we have planted a packet of the Chef’s Choice Blend Cauliflower seeds from Botanical Interests. Typically the only color of cauliflower you can find in the grocery store is white, but this packet contains three different colors; white, purple, and green. How cool is that? Eating a rainbow is pretty darn cool if you ask me.
If you are new to gardening, or are giving cauliflower a try this year, here are some handy dandy tips:
Brief description: Cauliflower is a mild vegetable that is part of the cabbage family.
Where to Plant Cauliflower: Plant in raised beds, garden beds, and containers. Cauliflower is a cooler weather plant, but does like full sun.
{thinning cauliflower seedlings}
Planting Seeds: Plant seeds 1/4-1/2″ deep. Thin to one per pot or 1 every 1-2′ when seedlings are 2″ tall. If starting indoors, try to keep the soil temperature around 70 degrees.
Growing Tips: Keep soil evenly watered. Do not allow plants to dry out completely in between watering. If it gets hot in your area before harvest time, gently fold cauliflower leaves over the head to protect it from the heat.
How to Harvest: Harvest by cutting stalk just below the head. Mature cauliflower is typically between 6-12″ in diamter.
Are you ready to start your garden but you’re not sure when you should plant your seeds or set out your transplants? Head on over HERE and you’ll be taken to a handy dandy chart that is broken down into what vegetables should be planted {or transplanted} each month in your area.
Anyone can do this. Dirt + Seeds+ Water = Food!
~Mavis
Gardening books hold kind of a special place in my heart. I wouldn’t be the gardener I am today {or maybe not a gardener at all} if it weren’t for a few gardening books I picked up years ago. I spent almost the entire winter of 2008/2009 reading up on gardening. I found some incredible reads that taught me so much and made me realize how much I didn’t know. So I’ve never stopped reading gardening books.
Here are just a few of my favorites, although if we’re being honest, narrowing this list down was virtually impossible. Gardening books are right up there with the bible {okay, not quite, but you get the idea!}.
My Favorite Garden Books:
- Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting
- The Complete Compost Gardening Guide
- Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
- Sugar Snaps and Strawberries
- The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
- The Kitchen Gardener’s Handbook
Melannie says
My favourite cauliflower to grow is actually the cheddar. Bright yellowy/orange in colour its a little little sweeter in flavour which my DH loves. But even better you don’t have to tie up the outer leaves.
Mavis says
I grabbed a 4-pack of it at the Seattle Tilth sale. Glad to hear your Husband likes it, this will be our first year growing it.
Cecily says
Sumner Winco sells the orange and purple cauliflower.
Maile says
I just recieved my BOX if seeds from Botanical Interests, it’s just like Christmas!! Can’t wait to plant. Thank you for for all the info.
Mavis says
It’s totally like Christmas, I agree. 🙂
Sherry says
I look forward to seeing what your different colored cauliflower look like.
I tried growing them here in Tennessee, but my crops were absolutely destroyed by harlequin bugs. In all my years of gardening, I never saw these bugs until I planted cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage. And then suddenly I had thousands of them.
I wonder if chickens like harlequin bugs. Are chickens good at keeping the garden free of bugs (without eating the plants as well)?
Mavis says
Ha! I don’t think so. The veggies are just too tempting. 🙂
Holly Tartaglia says
I have a great recipe for roasted cauliflower… break up the florets and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Toss to coat. Roast at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven and taste) in a glass casserole dish, until the tops begin to brown (or darker if you want. While roasting, melt some butter (an amount you are comfortable with – I use a whole stick for a large head), squeeze in half a lemon (strain out seeds) and add drained capers. When the cauliflower is finished roasting, toss in the butter/caper sauce and serve. This is one of my children’s favorite recipes!
Cecily says
How do you keep cabbage moths and mealybugs from destroying your cole crops? It seems to be a never ending battle keeping them out of mine.
Francisca says
I got these too. Started a few indoors and will plant some outside tomorrow not that I got my truck load of compost and weed barriers set. This is going to be a great season! So excited.
lilton says
We have been growing cabbage for the past three years, and added broccoli and cauliflower to our garden last year. The best way we have found to control the bugs that like these crops is with tuille netting fabric [like the kind you use for bridal veils; it comes in different textures; I just pick colors I like for my garden that year]. I generally can find it at my local Jo-Ann fabric store on sale in the spring [50c – $1 per yard], and I buy lengths that will cover the width of my raised beds [generally 1 1/2 – 2 yard pieces for my 4×8 raised beds; I buy 1 piece for each 1/2 bed]; depending upon the color of the netting, those pieces will last all season and sometimes two seasons [some colors seem to fade and deteriorate in the sun worse than others]. We cover the plants then tuck under the ends of the netting and secure them with my bunny garden statues [I LOVE the irony of that because we started using the netting to keep out the rabbits!]; the bugs that like these plants then can’t lay their eggs directly on the plants [unless they get trapped in the netting]. We still have the occasional nibbles on our plants but nothing like the total destruction we had on the lone cabbage plant we didn’t get around to covering one year. While I’m not afraid to use insecticides as needed, I really prefer this method especially since my son has been growing the cabbage plants for his 4-H project, and I don’t have to worry about him being exposed to unnecessary chemicals when we use the netting.