Growing cauliflower

When I tried a couple of years ago, the flowers were about the size of my palm but looked more like white broccoli than cauliflower. I read somewhere that Cauliflower needs constant supply to nutrients throughout its life. This year, I did just that. I planted each with a gallon-full of compost that I make from kitchen scrap, green and brown cuttings and from sweeping the front yard for eucalyptus tree bark/leaves.

I love the blue-green foliage color of Brassica family. I have found Broccoli and Kohlrabi very easy to grow. Now I think Cauliflower is also not that difficult as long as you provide enough water and nutrient. I am not sure what variety I planted but it took about 5 months for these to be ready.

Bought these plants around Jan/Feb. 9-packs from HD was my second time growing cauliflower. The growth was somewhat slow.

This is around March. About 2 months after planting -

There is lilac growing behind these plants




Here is how it looked like on the last day of May.




A few days later... this was ready. It was a little over 3 pounds.


My almost 5-year-old daughter loved it.


This one is next, I think another 2-3 days and this will be ready.


Today, I picked two more (July 17, 2009), its supposed to get very hot the next few days, which can wilt the leaf and turn it yellowish.

Also, I need this space for eggplants.

This one is huge !! It must be at least 4 pounds and its very tight.

(Thats a quarter on top of it)

I could not resists... here is one more picture. This must be one of the best yield I had from my garden.