By Garry 
Cauliflower: sowing, planting, growing and harvesting
Learn when to sow, plant, care for and harvest cauliflower in your garden.
🌱 Cauliflower : key growing facts
📅 Growing calendar
Indicative Northern Hemisphere temperate-climate calendar only. Adjust to local frost dates, climate, variety and growing conditions. In the Southern Hemisphere, seasons are approximately six months later.
🔎 Growing specifications
🧺 Harvest readiness & expected yield
When to pick
Cut the central curd while it is dense, firm and tightly packed, before florets separate. Keep a few wrapper leaves for protection.
What to expect
One head per plant, commonly 0.5–1.5 kg (1.1–3.3 lb), depending on cultivar.
Indicative only; variety, climate and care affect harvests.🌿 How to grow successfully
🤝 Companion planting
Grow near lettuce or onions if space permits; companion planting does not replace insect protection.
↔️ What to avoid
Do not grow brassicas repeatedly in the same bed; rotate crops to reduce clubroot risk.
🐛 Pests and diseases
Cabbage white caterpillars, flea beetles, aphids and clubroot.
🧤 Ongoing care
Keep soil consistently moist, mulch and use insect-proof mesh over young plants.
🧺 Harvest and storage
Cut compact heads before florets loosen. Refrigerate unwashed and use within several days.
🧑🌾 From sowing to harvest
Prepare the soil
Firm a compost-enriched bed with pH near neutral; brassicas need steady fertility and moisture.
Sow or transplant
Start in modules or a seedbed, then transplant sturdy seedlings to their final spacing. Fit fine insect mesh immediately.
What to monitor
Watch for caterpillars and signs of buttoning (small premature heads) after heat, cold or interrupted growth.
When and how to harvest
Cut the central curd while it is dense, firm and tightly packed, before florets separate. Keep a few wrapper leaves for protection.