Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables to grow. I’ve always had good luck with it, and we usually get larger heads than you can find at the supermarket. I just pulled this one out of the garden today – Kallie is more than happy to show how large it is. She’d actually eat this after it’s cooked (if we gave her some); our dog loves cauliflower straight from the garden.
The biggest downfall to growing cole crops are these pesky worms:
We still have cabbage butterflies flying around the garden, laying eggs. The worms can do a lot of damage – this time of year, all of the leaves on our cole crops are full of giant holes. I have never tried an insect control method for these (besides picking them up) – we were talking about maybe trying Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) next year on the cole crops to see if it helps.
However, I’ve found that while the insects do a lot of damage to the leaves, as long as the plants are healthy (good soil, water, and weather) they can withstand a fair amount of snacking. I’m soaking this head of cauliflower in a sink full of water right now, just to make sure that any remaining worms don’t accidentally make it into tonight’s dinner!
