Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
cauliflower
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 50 cm, rows 50 cm
- Lifespan
- Biennial
- Sowing
- Mar–Jun
- Harvest
- Jun–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below −3 °C
- Water need
- High
Photo: Etbe · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
With cauliflower, you eat the still closed, dense flower head that grows as a white head among the leaves. It is more demanding than other cabbage varieties because it requires consistent water and nutrients, otherwise the head remains small or bolts prematurely.
Care instructions
Plant pre-grown seedlings from April with a distance of at least one arm's length in nutrient-rich soil and keep the soil consistently moist, as any water stress results in smaller heads. For white varieties, break a few outer leaves over the head so that it remains white and tender, and harvest as soon as the curd is firm and closed; if you wait too long, it will become grainy.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Jun
HarvestJun–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 8 °C, ideally 20 °C
- Days to sprout
- 5 to 10 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, nutrient-rich, moist, lime-loving
Cauliflower wants deep, loose soil, because it roots to a depth of about 50 cm. Medium-heavy, loamy, humus-rich soils are ideal because they hold water and nutrients well; be sure to avoid waterlogging. If your pH is below 6.5, lime before planting, because a slightly alkaline, chalky soil helps prevent clubroot.
Brassicas are heavy feeders and susceptible to clubroot; observe a 4-year break and do not follow directly on from other crucifers such as radishes or mustard.
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Mar–Jun
In autumn before the growing year, work mature compost or well-rotted manure in shallowly, so that the organic matter has been broken down by spring. At planting, work horn shavings or horn meal shallowly into the soil; horn meal acts faster and suits the early growth phase. About four to six weeks after planting, water with fermented nettle liquid feed or compost tea to support head formation. Never work in fresh manure directly before planting.
Overwintering
Cauliflower is an annual and dies off after the first harder frost. Sow it again in spring or plant young plants. Only special winter cauliflower varieties such as ‘Walcheren Winter’ get through the winter in the bed, if you cover them with horticultural fleece or brushwood in hard frost.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
In the home garden you propagate cauliflower exclusively by sowing. Botanically it is biennial, but it is grown as an annual because you harvest the flower head (the curd) long before actual flowering. For an early harvest from early summer, start seeds indoors or in the greenhouse from mid-February: sow the seeds thinly in seed compost, cover them only about 5 mm deep and keep a germination temperature of 15 to 20 °C. The seeds germinate after around 7 to 10 days. As soon as the first true leaf appears, prick out the young plants and put them somewhere cooler (about 12 to 16 °C) so that they stay sturdy and do not bolt prematurely. Before planting out from mid-April, harden the plants off for 7 to 10 days by putting them outside during the day and bringing them in again in the evening. In the bed, choose a spacing of about 50 to 60 cm in the row and 60 to 70 cm between rows. Cauliflower is a heavy feeder and needs space and nutrients. For an autumn harvest, sow from the end of April to the end of June, from mid to late April also as a direct sowing outdoors, and plant the young plants out in early summer. Saving your own seed is possible in the home garden, but laborious: because you normally harvest the head before flowering, you have to leave individual strong plants standing, let them overwinter and only flower and set seed in the second year. This only works with open-pollinated (non-hybrid) varieties; seed saved from F1 hybrids segregates and does not come true.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
legume family (Fabaceae)
particularly well establishedLeguminous plants collect nitrogen in the soil, from which Brassicaceae benefit as heavy feeders.
For example Bush beanPole beanBroad beanSnow peaWrinkled peaRunner bean and 35 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
carrot family (Apiaceae)
You can pair celery and dill with all Brassicaceae because they repel the cabbage whitefly with their scent, a proven companion.
For example CarrotCeleriacDillParsleyFlorence fennelCoriander and 21 more species in the catalogue
Source: Bio-Gärtnerei Mixed-culture Practice
mint family (Lamiaceae)
You will notice that the intense scent of basil, thyme, and others confuses the cabbage whitefly and keeps it away from the cabbage family.
For example LavenderThymeBasilRosemarySageHyssop and 43 more species in the catalogue
Source: bio-gardening intercropping practice
nasturtium family (Tropaeolaceae)
Nasturtium serves as a trap plant for you. Aphids and cabbage whiteflies prefer it over the brassicaceae next to it.
For example NasturtiumMashua
Source: Trap plant practice in organic horticulture
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Varieties
7 varieties‘Clapton’
You especially take ‚Clapton’ when your soil is burdened with cabbage root rot, because it is highly resistant to this fungus.
‘Di Jesi’
This is ‚Di Jesi’, an old, seed‑stable landrace from the Italian region around Jesi.
‘Erfurter Zwerg’
You have ‚Erfurter Zwerg’, an old, seed‑firm classic from the Erfurt gardening tradition that stays compact and low.
‘Goodman’
You can rely on ‚Goodman’ as an F1 hybrid for the summer harvest.
‘Neckarperle’
A proven, open pollinated variety for the home garden that forms firm, snow white curds.
‘Vroon’
An early F1 hybrid for the first summer harvest, which you start indoors from February and set out into the bed under fleece from April.
‘Walcheren Winter 3’
A hardy, open pollinated overwintering variety from the Dutch Walcheren group, which you sow in early summer and plant into the winter bed.
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