The nights are getting colder, the day time temperatures are perfect, it's time to don those gardening gloves and arm yourself with your trowel, but what to grow?
What you plant in your autumn and winter months will depend upon your climate. In this Seasonal Gardening segment I will share with you an 'edible plant of the month' that I am growing here in my garden. I will explain how I grow them, cook them and preserve them.
Plant Name - Cauliflower (brassica olerancea)
This is one of my favourite veggies and so versatile too, however it can be a little bit temperamental to grow. Cauliflower is part of the cabbage family (brassicaceae). This is a huge family and includes cabbage, kale, mustard and rocket to name but a few. For me here in SW Qld, I grow this plant in the cooler months.
Seeds or Seedlings?
I generally purchase seedlings in late summer, pot them up into a bigger pot and protect them from the last of the summer heat. Once the nights have cooled a little and the days are less extreme, I will transplant them out into one of my garden beds.
I have tried seedlings but do not have much joy in getting a good germination rate, so prefer to buy the seedlings.
Soil
Cauliflower is quite fussy about its needs. When I first started to grow cauliflower I didn't have much luck, the reason being was that my veggie beds were so new. It took me three years before my soil was of a suitable quality to grow good cauli'. So if you are having problems, look at your soil, checking its pH and its moisture holding capacity.
I also found that it does not need too much nitrogen, otherwise you will get too much greenery and not much in the way of flower heads, this happened to my broccoli last year. Mind you all was not wasted as you can use the leaves as a cabbage substitute.
cauliflower does not grow well in soils deficient in the trace mineral Boron, so before planting out, I will add a complete organic fertiliser and also compost if the soil is a little light. My soil is sandy loam and slightly acidic (pH 6 to 6.5), so I often have to add organic matter to my soil to help with water retention. I usually do this one or two weeks before planting. I may also add some lime if my pH is too low. The brassica family originated from the wild cabbage, so likes a little bit of lime (sea shells, egg shells, dolomite), if your soil is a bit acidic. I also feed my plants regularly with worm juice from my worm farm.
Watering
I have installed irrigation in my veggie beds to make sure they are watered at the ground level on a regular basis, rather than watering with a hose pipe, this can damage the leaves through sunburn, or encourage mould and slugs.
I use mulch to help keep the moisture in the soil, but I do not lay it too thick as I want the sun to be able to warm the soil, at least initially when the seedlings are first planted out. I have also found that I need to keep the mulch away from the stem of my seedlings otherwise they can dampen off and die, or the woodlouse ring bark my plants and they die! This is another reason why I wait for my plants to be bigger before I plant out. They are not so tender, and are a little bit more woody.
Position
Cauliflower needs a sunny spot and because they can be a big plant, some protection from strong winds. It is also susceptible to both frosts and hot weather.
Pests and Problems
Pests can be a bit of an issue, for me this means cabbage white caterpillars. As I do not spray my plants, this means a nightly visit to the cauli' patch to dispatch (squish) said caterpillars. Aphids can be a problem too but I have a large population of hungry lady bugs which quickly get the problem under control.
I have not sprayed my veggie patch for four years now. Initially when setting up my veggie garden I did have pest issues, but now four years on, whilst I still have pests, they are not an issue. To have a healthy population of predators, you need to have prey. I suppose it took three years for my garden to find its balance.
Harvesting
Harvest your cauliflowers when the heads are nice and tight, before the flower heads start to open, though if this does happen it is not the end of the world and still tastes great.
There are many varieties of cauliflowers out there so give them a try, they are worth the effort.
In follow-on blog posts I will look at how to cook cauli', share my favouite recipe and take a look at the various ways you can preserve them.
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