Brassicas
Romanesco
Striking; spring and fall.
- Indoors
- 6 to 8 wk spring; June for fall
- Outside
- Transplant
- Where
- Raised bed, in ground, or grow bag
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Steady; a stalled plant buttons
- Harvest
- Jun to Jul, then Sep to Oct
Romanesco is the lime-green spiral brassica, cauliflower's showpiece cousin, with spring and fall chances here and better odds in fall. It takes cauliflower-grade care and repays it in geometry.
Growing
Start indoors with the spring brassicas in March, transplant in May at two feet each way, and keep water and nitrogen steady, because a stalled plant buttons, trading the spiral for a marble. The May planting heads in June and July if summer arrives politely; the surer bet is a second round of transplants set out in early August that heads up in the cool of September and October. Rich soil, no drought, no shortcuts: this is a cauliflower in a fancier jacket and just as demanding.
Varieties
Veronica is the reliable F1 and the right first try; open-pollinated Romanesco Italia is cheaper seed with more variable heads.
Pests
The white butterflies make no exception for artistry; net at transplant like every brassica here, with Bt as the fallback once frass appears. Aphids find the crevices near harvest, so give the head a hard look at the cutting board.
In the kitchen
Roasted florets keep their spires and brown at every point. It eats like cauliflower with better texture and much better table conversation.