Download How do I grow cauliflower and broccoli? - Eco

At a glance - cauliflower et al
slugs and snails. Keep watering them
as soon as they start to dry out.
In the open ground…
Sowing time
March to June
Harvesting time
August or April
How do I grow cauliflower and
broccoli?
Your seeds should be planted outside
in rows that are about 1cm deep and
roughly 5cm apart. The best way to
make the straight rows is to position
two pegs in the ground and stretch a
length of string between them.
From seed…
In a seed tray…
Sow your seeds in a moist tray of
potting compost and cover them with
a very thin layer of compost. Keep
them well watered if they start to dry
out and put them in a bright and
sheltered place.
Cauliflowers, Calabrese and broccoli
are easy to grow plants that can be
really rewarding to grow and very
tasty to eat as well.
How do I grow them?
You can grow cauliflowers, broccoli
and Calabrese from seed or you can
buy the young plants in late spring for
a quick and ready to plant solution.
The seeds should be starting to poke
through the surface after about a
week. Then in about three weeks time
they should be big enough to tease
out the tray, trying not o damage the
seedlings’ roots so that you can
place each seedling in to a 7.5cm pot
full of good quality compost. Make
sure you water them in well and give
them a dilute feed to keep them
growing happily.
Place the plants in a bright spot,
ideally out of the wind and away from
Once they have grown into small
plants, the young seedlings need to
be roughly 7cm apart. Pull out any
that are too close together by hand.
Then separate them out so that they
are roughly 30cm apart.
When to sow
Different varieties grow better at
different time of the year so check the
seed packet before you sow.
When to plant?
When the roots have filled the 7.5cm
pot and the plants are about 20cm tall
then they can be planted out about
30cm apart but up to 45cm if possible.
When to harvest?
Different varieties will be available to
harvest at different times of year.
Calabrese and cauliflower grows from
seed and crops all in one growing
season but Broccoli normally needs to
stand through the winter before they
will crop.
You can harvest broccoli as soon as
the purple broccoli spears appear in
the plant and the same also goes for
Calabrese.
Cauliflower is ready when the flower
heads turn slightly cream coloured
instead of white. It’s easier to tell
some times by when the leaves that
cover them start to draw back a bit so
that the white cauliflower is sticking
up above them a little bit more.
You should use a sharp knife and cut
the broccoli, Calabrese and
cauliflower off just above a leaf, that
way the plant will develop smaller
shoots from its side and you can
harvest these as well when they are
ready.
Where to plant?
Ideally they should be planted in a
sunny soil bed in a firm but rich soil.
What to do next
Keep your plants well watered and
scatter some organic feed around
their roots every couple of weeks to
keep them growing happily.
Keep an eye your plants as they grow
and water them regularly in dry spells
making sure that they are heavily
watered to make sure their roots grow
down wards to find the water table.
As the plants grow taller they may
need supporting. Put a bamboo cane
in alongside the plant and gently tie it
up with twine to stop it from falling
over.
Make sure that you harvest your crop
in time or they can go on to produce
beautiful yellow flowers that are not
very good to eat, at least no where
near as good as broccoli, cauliflower
or calabrese should taste like
When you have harvested your crops
then you could also eat the leaves,
they taste very similar to cabbage and
can be used in the same way.
Why not…
Try growing lettuce between your
plants.
When your cauliflower, Calabrese
and broccoli have grown quite tall
there will be space underneath
them that is going to waste or will
be available for weeds to grow in.
so why not save yourself a job and
instead of weeding sow some
lettuce seeds underneath the
plants. Or why not try for another
fast growing crop? Perhaps some
cut and come again salad leaves?
Or perhaps you could grow some
basil or another quick growing
annual herb underneath them.