cauliflower question

I planted some "cheddar" cauliflower seeds and lo and behold, I have a cauliflower. It would fit inside a golf ball; it's the first CF I've been able to grow down here (the first winter garden I've had) and I don't know what to expect. I have grown some very puny broccoli (buds, no full heads) but that was in the summer. This looks like a bud; will it develop? How will I know when it's ripe? I mean, this looks like a fully ripe little chunk of cauliflower, all nice and deep yellow.

I love the brassicas so much I feel I need to move into a different zone just so I can grow them!

I'm a little West of you, but still in 8b. Cali and Broco have always worked for me in my very alkaline soil in the fall but not in the Spring. If the cali isn't self blanching, be sure to pull and tie its leaves up around the head to produce a white head.

May want to keep a little BT handy for any little worms that might appear both on the cali and the broco.

Sounds like you are having fun.

Good Luck.

Brigidlily have faith. Barring any absolutely freaky hard freezes into the single digits, I think you'll have some to eat.

I just want to say that I grew a single most beautiful cauliflower by my back door one time in Atlanta. I proceeded to rinse it off and cut it up like the ones from the store. When it was steamed and I was drooling at the prospect, I noticed a thousand little tiny bugs had been cooked with it. Please soak yours for about 5 minutes in salt water to make sure you don't have the same disgusting experience.

Cheddar does not have white heads so no need to tie them up. Cauliflower is very quick to head up after its shows a head the size of a quarter. Pick while the curds are nice and tight. As it ages the curds will began to seperate and get a "ricey" look. From beginning to end, the process usually only takes 3-7 days depending on the weather. Here is a purple, That is beginning to get "ricey".

Ah, just what I needed to know. It's been this golfball size for several days; is that the same as when broccoli "buds" instead of forming a head? It just looks like a little orange brain, not ricey yet.

GAG, twiggybuds! I really owe you for that warning! Have salt! Will soak!!!

Twiggybuds, ick. We were so thrilled to have our first homegrown broccoli this fall. I did not notice any critters, but assume they could have them too. Will do the salt water thing next time. Thanks.

The head should grow daily....so it might not get to a large size. As farmer says it should grow quickly if it is really healthy.

Thank God for the post about the saltwater soak!

Ya'll don't know how paranoid I was as I was cleaning my beautiful mustard and collard greens for Thanksgiving dinner! I kept searching for worms or bugs, and there simply were none! So then I imagined they were microscopic and I'd cook them up and my guests would end up crunching down on something disgusting! I finally settled down and accepted this as another thanksgiving blessing from God.

Thanks for the info, Farmerdill. I guess it should have been obvious due to the name Cheddar. Wow!

I am old school and yellow cali just didn't seem right. Think I'll stick with the white.(smile)

Oh YICK! Glad I read this about the bugs/salt water.

I sewed green and purple cauliflower back in Sept(I think). It didn't get very big before our first frost so I put low poly tunnel over then the first of Nov. Haven't looked at them since so maybe I should check on them to see if I have edible heads.

Peggy