Cauliflower is one of the most popular vege in NZ gardens. With winter just around the corner, Autumn is the perfect time to plant your cauliflower in time for cool weather harvests. So, what does it take to grow the perfect cauliflower? Check out our tips below:
- Choose a sunny spot in your garden, ideally cauliflower needs around 6 hours of sunlight a day.
- We recommend rotating your Rotate brassica (broccoli, kale, cauli etc) crops and plant in a different spot each season
- Prepare your soil with organic matter, add some sheep pellets or organic seaweed to your soil. We recommend feeding your cauliflower seaweed every two/ three weeks for optimum growth.
- Dig a hole around 4 - 6cm deep
- Plant 35cm apart
- Keep well-watered through the season.
- Put beer bait around plants to trap slugs on cold nights
- Harvest in 12 to 16 weeks
Companion plant your cauliflower with celery, chard, peas and any strong-smelling herbs. Avoid planting your cauliflower with pole climbing beans, tomatoes and peppers.
Cauliflower going to seed? This is usually due to cold snaps in air and soil. To prevent your cauliflower from bolting make sure you plant it early enough, so the soil is still quite warm, give your seedlings enough room apart from one another and make sure to give them plenty of water.
Cauliflower pests. White butterfly caterpillar, slugs and aphids seem to be the main pain around growing cauliflower. Put slug bait or beer traps in your vege garden to trap slugs and spray aphids with garlic water daily to keep them at bay.
If you are having a problem with the White butterfly caterpillar you can deal to them with the juice from boiled rhubarb leaves. Simply boil up rhubarb leaves in water, then remove the leaves and let the water cool, spray directly on the cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli plants.
Top tip: Fold leaves over (once heads start to develop) to protect from sun and prevent frost damage
You can purchase your cauliflower seedlings here.
Happy Gardening!