My experience with cauliflower has certainly been varied. After some disappointment, I finally have grown some very nice cauliflower. The best so far has been Snow Crown F1. I grow these in the greenhouse (fall/winter) and in the outdoor garden every summer. Every year does seem to be different, and I can’t always determine when it will turn out great or disappointing. My latest favorite, Fioretto 70 F1, a sprouting cauliflower, is described below.

I attempted growing cauliflower once or twice at our former lower location and was not successful. I decided it was too hot. After moving here I thought I would give it another try.

Here we certainly have some of the troublesome conditions listed in Smith’s quote: cool temperatures in the spring, occasional hot days in summer (although cool nights). I wanted to give it a try anyway. Our first year, 2017, I started cauliflower seedlings indoors under lights in early May. They were transplanted outdoors the end of May, perhaps too soon. The cauliflower did grow, and as you can see in the photo above, it was doing okay, but had a purple-ish tint. I tried all the tips and tricks I could find to do it right, including tying up the leaves around it to blanch the head and keep it from getting scraggly or bolting as long as possible. One of the heads was more or less okay, but one looked like the photo at the right. It was certainly edible and tasted very good, it just looked funny.

The following year I tried a “self-blanching” variety, which gave similar results: delicious but funny looking cauliflower. Some of the plants grew cauliflower heads, but at least one of the plants never formed a flower head at all. I also tried some in the greenhouse, and it came out a bit better. 

Then I grew SNOW CROWN F1, a hybrid that boasts 50-60 days to maturity and “one of the easiest to grow.” This variety did not disappoint! First it grew nicely in the greenhouse. I started it the end of January and harvested it May 1: 77 Days.

In the outdoor garden, several grew quite nicely–none of the scraggly purple ones as above. They suffered a bit of damage while small seedlings from the mice (two of them were beyond saving). Once I began protecting them from the mice (using plastic jugs with the bottom cut off), they did great. I just forgot to take photos outdoors. The last ones, planted mid-July did not make it before the fall freezing temps. One was only about 3″ across when harvested 10/23, and not worth eating.  The photo shows the greenhouse cauliflower harvested in May. F1.