Thanks for all the wonderful information, Janet.

You mentioned location. I am in St. Pete., Florida. Yeah, a coastal
city. And it is starting to get warm. The nights are still cool off and on,
and are probably about in the 60's F right now. The days about mid-70s.

The cauliflower I have in the pot are very very leaf-heavy. They look
magnificent. The ones in the sand/soil (I've only worked it for it a year
now, so it's not as nutritious as the soil in the pot, but I've had success
with basil and cucumbers and lemon balm and the sand is getting better at
being healthy. I've been doing this slowly because last year I tried the
magic miracle fertilizers and pretty much killed everything I tried to
grow. g No more of that stuff! I love what I'm seeing by chopping up
dead leaves and mixing them in with the sand (soil). Banana peels seem
to help the sand alot along with coffee grounds and used up tea from tea
bags.

The cauliflower in the ground is small and younger than the cauliflower
in the pot. I think I started the cauliflower in the pot about November
of last year. It really looks like a healthy plant. But keep in mind that
I'm totally new at this and I don't have a clue. The leaves are about 9
inches long, 6 inches wide and their are two or three cauliflowers
clumped together in the pot all on one side of the pot.

Some of the plants in the ground are being eaten badly by something.
Maybe snails. There are alot of snails over there. I'll have to chop up
some more egg shells and work them into the soily sand there I think.
I'll try the salt water. Thanks for that tip!

There are some moths and butterflies flying around, not many yet. And
I did find some caterpillars messing a tomato plant. I think the butterfly
season is going to come more in June and July based upon what I seen
last year.

--
Jim Carlock
Please post replies to newsgroup.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote:
The message from "Jim Carlock" contains these words:

I've got a few cauliflower plants. One set are in a big pot and they
are huge I think. At least the leaves are. None of them have cauli-
flower growing on them though. I've been reading that they become
unproductive by the time summer gets around.

Is there anything that I can do to get the actual cauliflower going?
I've read on one site that administering nitrogen is a good thing. So
I have some left over fish emulsion that seems heavy in nitrogen.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies/comments.

From your tomato commenst you must be somewhere warmer than here
(Scotland). I've alwasy thought brassicas preferred cool northern
climates ?

Here, in a cool damp climate, a spring sowing of cauliflower doesn't
flower until August. They're grown in the garden not pots, because they
like cool, rather compacted soil ...ideally, a bed which was well
fertilised and dug for its previous crop. In good soil I don't give the
caulis any extra fertiliser or they make too much leaf, and then become
very top-heavy as the flower head develops ( it's called the "curd".

Also, one other question. If I do start to see a head, I've read that I
should tie up some leaves around the head... and there's mention of
blanching. Is tying up the head in leaves considered blanching?

Yes. When the head starts to form it's just about the size of a golf
ball, but they grow fast. When it reaches tennisball size, cut some for
immediate use (steamed whole). On the remaining crop, I just fold and
crease two leaves, which are still attached, across the top of the curd,
and thread a little twig or toothpick through them to hold them in
place. This keeps the curd pale creamy white. If you don't do it some
varieties develop a faintly pink or violet colour...just as good to eat
but less aesthetic on the plate. Keep a close eye on the developing
curds at this stage as you want to eat them while it's still a tight
firm head, before they start to open out looser into proper flowers.

Caterpillars love the leaves....keep an eye out for geometric patches
of tiny butterfly eggs on the undersides of leaves, and tear the patch
out before they hatch into plant gobblers . A drench of salt water will
remove any caterpillars which make it to full size and deter slugs, and
won't hurt the cabbages at all (brassicas are adapted to coastal
conditions).

Cauliflowers are rather like sweetcorn. Cut fresh a few minutes
before cooking, they are far tenderer and tastier than ones bought from
a shop, and need less cooking time.

Janet