Cauliflower - All the year round

I prefer the varieties that cover the curds with their own leaves. I have had great success with Cauliflower F1 Candid Charm, as did many others, but I'm finding the seeds harder to source year-on-year. Suttons are selling Plugs ... but not seeds AFAICS (Kings, Dobbies, Fothergills have it, but that is fewer than I remember previously)

I don't think that variety is suitable for Winter sowing though.

 

Its the sun on the curd that is the issue, I think? Old practice used to be to break off a leaf and cover the developing curd with that.

Candid Charm (and no doubt others) has a shape more like a Hispi cabbage - so the curd is never "exposed" in the same way.

There may be nothing in it, but I (and at the time others on various Vegetable forums) found they got on particularly well with Candid Charm - dunno if that was to do with the shape / curd covering, or just that it preformed well.

I've assumed that it can't be selling well as seed is becoming harder to source.

 

Don't think so. Overwintering Caulis will be hard as nails I reckon - they get harvested from the field in foul weather, AFAIK

 

I sow and grow on in 9cm pots and then plant out. Enables me to the the 2' apart (or whatever it is) spacing. You could station-sow a few. I think 9cm pots enables me to bring the seedlings on somewhere where there are no cabbage whites or pigeons! and then when I plant out I first clean the bed and plant, so the plant is then several weeks ahead of any weeds that then germinate.

I think that Cauli's will only stand for a max of 14 days when mature (well, those that mature in Summer, maturing in Winter may stand longer) so I only plant what we can eat in a fortnight, and I sow more at 14 day intervals. Another reason to grow in pots as I only have 4-per-batch ... and I make no attempt to keep them together, so when planted out there may be some Beetroot or Lettuce or whatever inbetween them and the previous batch. OCD "Straight row people" hate that approach of course ...

 

I planted some some all year round directly about 2-3 months ago and after thinning they are very very slow to get going. About 8 inches at the moment in height

 

Have they been getting enough water?

I'd give them some Nitrogen - now is probably about the latest I would want to do that before the Winter

 

You might be right with the water due to the dry spell and having to cart water for the whole allotment I did every thing every two to three days but I suspect they could have done with more.
I did give them some comfry tea a week ago

 

I would have said every 2 or 3 days is plenty. Much better to give them more, less frequently, than not-so-much but every-day. A good soaking gets the water down below the plant, rather than just into the surface (where it quickly evaporates in the sun), and then the roots grow down to where the moisture is. (Apologies if you know all this). Exception would be if you are on very sandy soil where it might not be able to hold the water for very long.

I fill my planting holes with water, let it drain, plant-out, and then the plants have water below them and I don't water for at least a week (well, if it was a scorcher I might have to) so that the plants make roots downwards.

Its high in Potash, rather than Nitrogen. Nettle tea would be the thing for Nitrogen (or a proprietary fertiliser, of course )

 

My friend in the allotment next to me suspects Nitrogen lack as well. WE both used the same cabbage plants too and his were literally 3 times the size of mine all though mine were a decent size.
How long do I have to apply Nitrogen as I started some nettle tea today and what is the reasoning for not applying later in the year.
Apologies for taking thread off on a tangent

 

In my opinion you need to do it now, making Nettle tea will take too long.

Reason for not doing it later is Nitrogen will stimulate soft growth, and you want the plant to have time to harden that growth up before the winter.