"Learning to Cauliflower"

   Growing up on the farm, we never planted cauliflower.  The fields were planted with crops that were "longer producing" meaning you could harvest numerous times from one planting.  This was done to make the best use of the area, workforce and time.  My memories of cauliflower are strictly of this being a "treat" for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  It was "special".  

  For the past few years, I have grown cauliflower in the Small Gardens with iffy success.  The plants would grow but the heads never looked like that wonderfully white (huge) head from the store.  So, I set out to learn how to achieve that.  This year proved to be a good "training" year.  Mark bought seeds for my winter garden in the early fall.  He brought the usual assorted seeds...greens, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower and peas.  Come October, I had the seeds in and felt that I could handle this winter garden with ease since so many people had asked for seedlings.  There were a LOT of seeds in those packets.  Approximately 100 of each type!  I planted them all.  Obviously, there were only two broccoli seeds in the whole lot.  All of what was supposed to be broccoli turned out to be cauliflower!  TWO HUNDRED cauliflower plants...and, get this...nary a person showed up to get their seedlings.  The vegetable plot spilled over into the flower gardens.  Those seedlings were planted far to close together and in the oddest spots.  Not only in the ground but in any empty pot that I could find.  Cauliflower plants were everywhere!

  The goofy things were super slow growing and I pondered if I would ever get a single head.  Son and I decided to eat cauliflower "greens" (which, by the way, are delicious!).  I fretted that snipping the leaves might hinder the growth of heads but since we had so many, it seemed logical.  Now...this week...the cauliflower has decided to head.  I have cauliflower!  The first few immediately turned a rosy pink and were bitter.  Oh, yeah...I remember reading somewhere that I needed to "tie up" the leaves to protect the head from the sun.  Well, I am lazy.  Instead of going to the trouble of tying the leaves, I merely bent the large leaves over the head until the stems snapped.  They were still connected and formed the perfect thatched "roof" over the head.  Within two days, the head went from about the size of a golf ball to almost the size of a nice, rounded volley ball!  The heads were about 8 inches in diameter and snowy white!  Oh, my!  Maybe bending the leaves was not such a bad idea!  In fact, it was rather exciting to open the leaves to find the head...almost like unwrapping a gift!

  What a treat to be able to make a quick dash to the garden to gather lunch.  The cabbages and cauliflower are favorites but beets, mustard greens and green peas are tops, also.  All of these plants can handle cold weather pretty well and should be considered.  I worried that a freeze might damage the plants but then found out that the temperatures would have to dip well below the freezing mark for a good number of days before it would harm them.  (Think below 20 degrees!)  Here in the Deep South, our winters are mild so the plants did their own things and did it well.