Clarissa11/12/03 5:31
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"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...


It depends on what variety they are.
My summer/autumn cauliflowers have only just finished producing heads snip

Thanks Bob, that's reassuring. I'll sit on them for a few months....



Don't think they need hatching, Clarissa....... ;-)
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

The message
from Christopher Norton contains these words:

The message
from "Clarissa" contains these words:

Sigh.

How very disappointing. The plants are strong and leafy and green;
just no
damn edible bit.

They were ravaged by cabbage whites in the summer. Perhaps that's what did
for them?

I tried Cauli`s this year with no joy at all. I`m not even going to
bother next year. Supposed to be one of the hardest things to grow
successfully.

Nah, I grow cauli successfully, so they must be easy :-).Do have
another try as they are one of those fresh home-grown food crops which
are really different from and superior to the version sold in shops.

I choose a summer variety (the ones designed to make tennisball sized
heads are very good, and easy) and sow in a seed tray, spacing the seeds
about 5cm apart (they are just large enough to handle individually;
fiddly but worth the effort). Harden off and transplant carefully at the
4 leaf stage (minimum root disturbance as someone else said); plant in
fertile soil in an open position and water in well with comfrey tea.
Surround plants with comfrey leaves, and/or scatter some wood ash around
them, to ward off slugs while they establish. That's about it.

I keep an eye out for patches of caterpillar eggs (tear out the section
of leaf they were laid on) and as the cauli heads develop, I fold a
growing leaf over the top to keep them white and tight. They are very
tender and delicious so be careful not to spoil them by cooking for as
long as shop cauli takes; steamed is best.

Janet.

Clarissa wrote:


Thanks Bob, that's reassuring. I'll sit on them for a few months....

Thats *not* a good idea;~))
You've just discovered there are quite a few ways of growing Caulis. The fact your
caulis got clobbered by caterpillars won't have helped because that would give
them a very severe set-back - preventing checks in growth is the one unbreakable
rule for growing caulis. Your broccoli may well be the purple sprouting sort that
crops in spring so just wait & see what happens. If you could arrange some sort of
rudimentary protection like simple cold frame it's worth sowing some of the early
summer caulis in plugs in January for cropping outdoors early June - you often get
those before the caterpillars get going. Bob has already mentioned the Winter
spring caulis, if you're in luck some of what you have may be those. if so
depending on variety and sowing date you would get those in April - late May. They
are probably the easiest of all and usually free of pest problems. When watching
for caterpillar damage next summer look for small transparent areas of leaf where
a new brood has hatched - at that stage they're only a day or so old and still al
together and you can get the lot in one go with your thumb. The other thing for
caulis is good soil fertility.

--
Rod
http://website.lineone.net/%7Erodcraddock/index.html
My email address needs weeding.

The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

I grow all our brassicas from seed but all in rootrainers for transplanting
as if I planted in situ or seed bed we wouldn't get anything after the Flea
Beetle had done it's worst.
Can't imagine you are likely to import clubroot from nursery grown brassicas
as it's soil born and they normally use clean compost, more likely to get it
from a friend giving you some plants from a seed bed.

Hum. I bought three bags of pre-packed seed compost and found the stuff
well-named - it was full of nettle seeds.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from Christopher Norton contains these words:

I tried Cauli`s this year with no joy at all. I`m not even going to
bother next year. Supposed to be one of the hardest things to grow
successfully.

Dead easy, I found them. I cleared a patch of grass, dug in several bags
of (fresh) stable manure, raked the top and planted the seeds.

Kept them well watered, and a lovely crop of caulis resulted.

The words "lovely" and "cauli" make bad bedfellows. The stuff is hardly
edible.

Franz

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from Christopher Norton contains these words:

I tried Cauli`s this year with no joy at all. I`m not even going to
bother next year. Supposed to be one of the hardest things to grow
successfully.

Dead easy, I found them. I cleared a patch of grass, dug in several bags
of (fresh) stable manure, raked the top and planted the seeds.

Kept them well watered, and a lovely crop of caulis resulted.

The words "lovely" and "cauli" make bad bedfellows. The stuff is hardly
edible.

Franz

The message
from "Clarissa" contains these words:

As for the broccoli, we have had it do all sorts of things over the years
but it invariably produces something worthwhile, so as with the caulies,
leave them and see, you can always pull them up later.

Thanks Bob, that's reassuring. I'll sit on them for a few months....

The won't hatch, you know.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Don't think they need hatching, Clarissa....... ;-)

Ahhhhhgh! Those Rays again!

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:01:24 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from "Clarissa" contains these words:

As for the broccoli, we have had it do all sorts of things over the years
but it invariably produces something worthwhile, so as with the caulies,
leave them and see, you can always pull them up later.

Thanks Bob, that's reassuring. I'll sit on them for a few months....

The won't hatch, you know.

such is the life of a broody hen.
--
Martin

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:
"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

/snip/

Kept them well watered, and a lovely crop of caulis resulted.

The words "lovely" and "cauli" make bad bedfellows. The stuff is hardly
edible.

Steamed so that they are still crisp, they are scrumptious. Covered with
a cheese sauce and baked in the oven they are even better.

Chop up the leaves and tenderer bits of stalk and add them to stews and
casseroles, simmer the rest with the tough (but not dry and gingery)
outside bits and tops and tails of On!onions, root veg peelings, tough
bits of celery etc for vegetable stock.

Nothing gets wasted here.

Any excess stock of any kind is put in ice-cube trays or bags in the
freezer, and tipped out into freezerbags when ready, making various
stocks available at the rummage of a pair of cold hands.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:
"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...

/snip/

Kept them well watered, and a lovely crop of caulis resulted.

The words "lovely" and "cauli" make bad bedfellows. The stuff is hardly
edible.

Steamed so that they are still crisp, they are scrumptious.

That way of preparing them leaves them with precisely zero taste.

Covered with
a cheese sauce and baked in the oven they are even better.

And best of all is the cheese sauce minus the cauli.

Franz

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 11:32:48 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


That way of preparing them leaves them with precisely zero taste.

Not true, I blame old age Franz :-)


Covered with
a cheese sauce and baked in the oven they are even better.

And best of all is the cheese sauce minus the cauli.

and in the Netherlands this avoids the kitchen smelling of pig muck
that they are grown in.
--
Martin

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

The words "lovely" and "cauli" make bad bedfellows. The stuff is hardly
edible.

Steamed so that they are still crisp, they are scrumptious.

That way of preparing them leaves them with precisely zero taste.

You must have tried the wrong variety.

Covered with
a cheese sauce and baked in the oven they are even better.

And best of all is the cheese sauce minus the cauli.

Ah well. I'll have yours.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

The message
from Jaques d'Alltrades contains these words:

The message
from Christopher Norton contains these words:

I tried Cauli`s this year with no joy at all. I`m not even going to
bother next year. Supposed to be one of the hardest things to grow
successfully.

Dead easy, I found them. I cleared a patch of grass, dug in several bags
of (fresh) stable manure, raked the top and planted the seeds.

Kept them well watered, and a lovely crop of caulis resulted.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

/me starts to mumble about Caulis.

"Sacha" wrote in message
.. .
Clarissa11/12/03 5:31

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.net

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

It depends on what variety they are.
My summer/autumn cauliflowers have only just finished producing heads
snip

Thanks Bob, that's reassuring. I'll sit on them for a few months....

Don't think they need hatching, Clarissa....... ;-)

No but it's an interesting thought, and I'd like to see it!(:-)

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk