Brassicas
Cauliflower
The family's hardest, honestly; fall is its one window.
- Indoors
- 6 to 8 wk (early to mid Jul)
- Outside
- Transplant Sep 1-20
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Daily while roots take; any stall rices the curd
- Harvest
- Nov to Dec, cut while the curd is tight
Care
- Water
- The thirstiest of the family, and it lands in the bed in September heat: water daily while roots take, then keep moisture even without exception, because one dry stall rices and loosens the curd. The mid-September rains help; a dry October does not.
- Sow
- In cells in early to mid July, 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, keep the stronger. Set plants eighteen inches apart September 1 to 20, at the early end of the window; on-time set-out matters double for the family's slowest, fussiest member.
- Start inside
- No heat mat; warm July soil sprouts them quickly. Raise the bench the fall guide's way, full sun with shade after 3 p.m. and steady moisture, and never let a seedling sit checked, since a stunted start finishes as a button no matter what comes after.
- Feed
- A heavy feeder while it builds leaf: compost at transplant, a side-dress when new growth stands four inches, then ease the nitrogen once the curd sets or it runs to rice. No feed in the July-August heat; the bench is indoors by then anyway.
- Ready
- At egg size, fold the outer leaves over the white head and clip them to keep it blanched. Cut while the curd is tight and domed; once it rices and separates it was ready last week. One head per plant, then the plant is finished.
- Trouble
- Ricey, loose curd: heat, sun, or a water stall, the exact reason the state sheet calls this the hardest cole crop and marks spring not recommended. Buttoning from a checked transplant: go early in the window. Cabbageworms: net, then Bt.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Every day or two through the fall run, water until it drains from the holes; the even moisture the curd demands matters double in a bag.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly, easing the nitrogen once the curd sets; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per 5 to 7 gallon bag. No size is listed in the Texas container guide, so the family's head-crop room applies.
The hardest cole crop on the state's own sheet, with spring marked not recommended statewide; the September window is its one fair shot here.
Growing
Both hard labels are quoted, not paraphrased: the cole sheet ranks cauliflower and brussels sprouts hardest of the family, and the statewide table marks spring cauliflower not recommended. It stays on the fall window the county and Region III both name. Cells in early to mid July, transplants September 1 to 20 at the early end, daily water while roots take, then even moisture without exception, because a single stall rices the curd. When a white head reaches egg size, fold outer leaves over it and clip them to blanch. Cut while the curds are tight and domed; one head, and the plant is done. This is the entry to attempt, not count on, and the honest one to lose.
Varieties
The cole sheet's Texas list: Snow Crown, Snowball Y Improved, Imperial, Majestic, Alverda (green), Brocuverde and Violet Queen (purple). Snow Crown is the forgiving one and the right first choice; the green and purple types trade the blanched-white look for color, and the whites still want the leaf-tying.
Pests
Cabbageworms treat the leaves as an appetizer and the curd as dessert; net at transplant, or check weekly and bring in Bt when frass shows. Aphids hide deep in the wrapper leaves near harvest, and a firm dunk in salted water after cutting clears the stragglers.
In the kitchen
Fall heads roast whole or broken down for a hard sheet-pan char, and a tight November curd is sweet enough to eat raw with anything creamy. One good head feeds a table; the honest-hard framing is about getting it, never about cooking it.