Not so good of a year for purple cauliflower

markqz 1/30/2022, 4:59 pm

My squares were taken up by Snow Fairies, so I didn't plant the cauliflower until later. Unfortunately, the plants are small and yet flowering:

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 3 U0KN5KZ

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 3 U0KN5KZ

On some web page, they were claiming you could harvest heads and get second ones. Does anyone do that?

**sanderson** 1/31/2022, 11:25 pm

It's cute, at least. I have 4 white ones like that. The fifth one opened up and was going to bolt. I planted Oct 1 but the weather was "warm" for us and everything grew fast and bolted. Except the Swiss chard.

I have gotten side shoots on broccoli, but never on cauliflower. They get cut down to a handle size after I harvest. A week or 6 later, they come out for the summer plants.

markqz 6/17/2022, 12:54 pm

I'm thinking that purple cauliflower may have that hybrid problem, where it doesn't always grow "true". Or maybe it's just the heat, though not all my cauliflowers have grown this way. Here's what one of my plants looks like. It's a mix of flower stems and leaves:

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 3 Qfd9Kqz

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 3 Qfd9Kqz

**sanderson** 6/17/2022, 4:15 pm

Could it be because it is hot down there?

markqz 1/24/2024, 10:32 pm

When I harvested the main head, I left behind 3 little small side branches by accident. Wish I had taken a photo then. Those side branches have grown up. Not as large as the main head, but still ...

This might be a way to get a little more than one head from each plant.

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 3 NnGnmEv

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 3 NnGnmEv

**Scorpio Rising** 1/30/2024, 12:18 pm

Does it taste different, Mark?

markqz 2/1/2024, 11:01 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:Does it taste different, Mark?

Er, I don't know. Haven't tried them yet. Still in the post-holiday junk food mode. Which is completely different from the pre-holiday junk food mode.

Maybe I'll do a side dish tonight.

**sanderson** 2/1/2024, 12:26 pm

markqz wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Does it taste different, Mark?

Er, I don't know. Haven't tried them yet. Still in the post-holiday junk food mode. Which is completely different from the pre-holiday junk food mode.

markqz 2/1/2024, 11:40 pm

Ok. Served them as a side course on the night's meal. The audience went wild: "They're fine."

Hmm. Maybe Brocol-Flower isn't something people rave about. Or maybe nothing can live up to post-Holiday junk food.

The main thing is, after the plant "head" has grown a certain amount, it becomes more leggy. Increasingly like broccoli and less like cauliflower. But it didn't seem to be getting tough or bitter.

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