Cauliflower help

[Icyberjunkie]

This may sound like a daft question but is there more than one kind of cauliflower.   Having enjoyed some inherited cauli's in March I planted some to repeat the excercise but I noticed this morning they are already flowering with little white heads about the size of a tennis ball!   I will enjoy them, just not when planned....

Is that normal,  have I planted the wrong variety or just planted to early for spring??   ???

[Icyberjunkie]

[tim]

Cauliflower or Broccoli?

And did you want them for next Spring??

Thompson&Morgan list 10 varieties of Cauli & 15 Broccoli.

Have a browse?

[ALAN HOWELL]

Sometimes stress thru lack of water can cause a Cauli to "button"( prematurely head),and with the recent dry spell well.........

Alan

[tim]

What I meant, of course, was that the catalogue gives you an idea of when things should happen.

As Alan says, stress may have spoilt your plans, but will they not grow bigger if you leave them, covering the head with a leaf to delay yellowing??

[Robert_Brenchley]

If they have heads then they won't do any more. Don't harvest the heads too early, or leave them too long and let them flower. Things do go wrong with caulis, but I've never found them to be as bad assome books seem to suggest.

[AntZ]

All the books I have read seem to suggest that cauliflowers seem to be hard to grow and need lots of water and care through out the growth of the plant.

Last year we planted Cauliflower and ended up with brussel sprouts..... now that is either a genetic mutation or a mix up at the seed packaging plant!

This year we have Cauliflowers and have small white hearts just forming on the plants.

we are watering like mad to ensure they do not start to split and bolt. and are praying like HELL thatwe do not end up with more SPROUTS!
;D

[Icyberjunkie]

Definately Cauliflowers Tim and yes they will get bigger - thanks for the tip on covering the heads with a leaf.  I will try that.

Thanks to everyone else as well.  Didn't realise they were hard to grow for they are romping on fine.  I was just surprised for stupidly has assumed they would all crop at the same time.  Having taken Tim's advoce I did a search and some state they are definately spring.  Guess I got summer ones by mistake.  Oops.  Will go and try and get the right ones this time if I can fit them in!!