Growing cauliflowers

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
Do not be put off by me an old cynic if ever there was one.
You might be interested to know that most British Commercial Cauliflower Growers are quitting the game as they cannot make them pay. I grow Purple Sprouting Broccoli and have now managed to stretch the season so that I can pick in every one of the twelve months of the year.
It's not that I dislike Cauliflowers as I said I feel they take up too much room for the amount you get. I have no lack of ground but, on a designated allotment, space must be a nightmare. So to grow something that, traditionally is a bad performer, is a waste of very valuable space to my way of thinking.
JB.

[Good Gourd]

I should say NOT growing cauliflower in my case. I have had the same problems as have been posted, I wondered if it was some sort of acid or something when I handled them. Far fetched?

[Mike Vogel]

Well, JB, you are at one with the organic gardeners after all, who are keen on value for space and give broccoli 3 stars and caulis just one. In my case I have the space and caulis cover spaces in spring which would otherwise be bare.
mike

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
Seeing that I was organic for over 40 years it's not surprising! But even with the patch you say would be bare, why? What I mean is that Cauliflowers take up 4 sq.ft. of growing space and sometimes for longer than a year. I feel that there are vegetables that you could grow other than cauliflowers in your bare patch that would give you a quick return and not bugger you up when you need to dig the ground because they are still there and bugger up next years rotation! Are you getting my drift?
JB.

[lizzie]

I've never had too many problems with All the year round caulis. Lost a few but always got some good heads off them. Gave them lots of water, planted them deeply and gave them a bit of calcified seaweed.

Last year i grew Aalsmeer and got naff all....just a load of leaves. Treated the same as all the year round but was very disappointed.

I'll stick to all year round in future. This variety tends to do what is says on the packet. I wouldn't mind trying a Romenesco for a change or a coloured variety.

Maybe someone could advise on those too please. Would be happy to hear other peoples experience

[plot 100]

Read an article last year re cauliflowers,the article suggested planting late cauliflowers in onion beds once you have gathered them in.
I did, with the best results i have ever had.
Maybe it is the nitrogen and potash from the onion bed,I sowed seeds in May I think they were called Moby Dick and had more than i have ever had in Oct. Nov. Hope this is of interest.
Plot 100

[Colin_M]

I wouldn't mind trying a Romenesco for a change or a coloured variety.
Maybe someone could advise on those too please. Would be happy to hear other peoples experience

Hi again Lizzie.

I have almost no experience of Caulis, but did grow some Romanesco (they were called Romenesco Broccoli, but looked & tasted more like Caulis). The variety I had was sold as "baby veg" and ended up that size - guess they were just naturally small.

I sowed them in the Autumn and they grew through the winter. One or two plants lost their heads & just grew leaves, but all the rest produced nice heads and they tasted nice.

[Lurganspade]

I take back all I have said so far about Cauli's being difficult to grow!

I have just found a photo of a cauli I grew a few years ago, it weighted (wait/weight) for it, 7 lbs 5 ounces.

And it tasted just like the rest!


Cheers

[Mike Vogel]

Johnboy wrote:
But even with the patch you say would be bare, why?

Yes, fair point. I suppose I would simply have grown more broccoli or perhaps brussels in that bed. Probably, though, I'd have sown a green manure, or that would have been one of the beds I put compost on and covered with cardboard for the winter.

What I'll do once I'm retired, well, who know?

mike