How to Grow Cauliflower From Seed

Cauliflower is the most weather-sensitive of the brassicas, so timing matters even more than with broccoli. For a spring crop, start seeds indoors 4 to 5 weeks before your last frost and transplant around that date. For a fall crop, which is usually easier and gives cleaner heads, start seeds in mid to late summer so the plants mature into cool autumn weather. Snowball Y Improved is an early variety that heads up in about 65 to 80 days from transplant.

Sow cauliflower seeds a quarter inch deep in cell trays of moist seed-starting mix, two seeds per cell, and keep them around 70 to 75F. Seedlings appear in 4 to 10 days; thin to the strongest one. Harden them off, then transplant into rich, firm, well-drained soil in full sun, spacing plants 18 to 24 inches apart in rows about 30 to 36 inches apart. Water in well and keep the soil consistently moist from day one, since any check in growth can ruin the head.

Steady is the whole game with cauliflower. Give it 1.5 to 2 inches of water a week so it never dries out, and feed regularly with a balanced fertilizer to keep growth unbroken. Once the head reaches the size of an egg, blanch white varieties by tying the outer leaves up over it to keep the curd creamy white. Watch for cabbage worms and aphids and pick or wash them off. In hot regions like the South or interior California, grow cauliflower only as a fall and winter crop; a summer planting or a spring heat wave leads to loose, ricey, or bitter heads. In the North, both spring and fall crops can do well.

Cauliflower does best beside plants that pull its pests away and bring in helpful insects. These four make especially good neighbors in a brassica bed, and you can add any of them in one click:

Harvest cauliflower while the head is full, firm, and still tight, usually 7 to 12 days after you blanch it. Cut the whole head with a few wrapper leaves attached, in the cool of the morning. Do not wait for it to get bigger: once the curd starts to loosen and separate, the texture and flavor go downhill fast. Unlike broccoli, cauliflower does not produce useful side shoots, so one head per plant is the crop.

Cauliflower is mild and versatile. Roast the florets at high heat until the edges brown and sweeten, steam them for a few minutes, or pulse raw florets into cauliflower rice. It also mashes into a smooth side and blends into soups. The tender inner leaves are good roasted too. Homegrown Snowball is sweet and dense, and it freezes well after a quick blanch.

• Ricey or loose curds: usually heat or a growth check. Keep water and feeding steady and harvest promptly once the head is full.
• Buttoning (tiny heads): from stress or a cold shock at transplant. Grow strong seedlings and harden them off gently.
• Yellowing heads: sun exposure on white types. Blanch by tying the leaves over the head once it is egg-sized.
• Cabbage worms and aphids: pick worms off or use row cover, and rinse aphids away with a strong spray of water.