Growing Mini Cauliflower

Latest Update 26th July 2020.
 
Mini Cauliflower.

• I grow mini Cauliflowers, because the head is a great size for 2 people.
• It is firm, pure white and has excellent taste.
• However, the rest of the plant is almost as bulky as a full sized cauliflower, and they tend to dominate a Garden Ecobed, so I usually only grow 3 at a time.

Details.

• Binomial Name: Brassica oleracea.
• Family: Brassiaceae.
• Variety: Mini Cauliflower.
• Garden bed type: Garden Ecobed.
• Minimum sun per day: 4 hours.
• Plant spacings: centres: 500 mm.
• Weeks to harvest: 18 weeks.
• Good companions: Bean, tansy, nasturtium.
• Bad companions: Strawberry.
• Climate: Warm temperate.
• Geography: Southern hemisphere.

Nutrition.

• This food is very low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
• It is a good source of protein, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, magnesium and phosphorus, and a very good source of dietary fibre, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, potassium and manganese.
• More from nutrition data self.com.

Maintain Healthy Plants

• This blogpage explains how I maintain healthy plants. It describes how soil is prepared prior to planting, how to regulate the sun's intensity and how to help protect and feed plants through their leaves.

Propagate Plants Efficiently

• This blogpage explains how I propagate seeds in a purpose built propagator.

Propagation Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to sow seeds.

Services Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to make compost and plan other garden/household related activities.

Growing Instructions.

• Multi-sow a few cauliflower seeds in a mini pot and water them by placing the pots in 15mm of dilute seaweed extract in a small plastic tray. Sink the pot up to its rim in compost in the EcoPropagator.
• Once they have reached 4th leaf stage, transplant the 2 strongest seedlings individually into small fibre pots; soak them in dilute seaweed extract again and return them to the propagator.
• Plant them out when ready in a prepared Ecobed using a large dibber, and water in well with captured rainwater.
• Earth up the stems as the cauliflowers grow.
• Protect them from excessive sun in high summer using shadecloth.

Harvesting and Storage.

• Cauliflowers should be harvested when they have reached a mature size, and before the flower buds open.
• Cut the stalks at ground level when harvesting them and leave the roots to decompose in the ground.
• I don't usually store cauliflowers, but they could be blanched for 2 minutes in boiling water, dried and packed in resealable bags in the freezer.

Organic Pest Control.

• Cauliflowers, like most vegetables, are vulnerable to attack from certain pests in my garden. My blog on "Controlling Garden Pests" explains a little about these pests and what to do to protect plants from them. For details click on the appropriate link below.

• Slugs and snails.
• Cabbage white butterfly caterpillars.
• Greenhouse whitefly.
• Aphids (greenfly).
• Root knot nematodes.