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For a thriving cauliflower crop next year, sow winter-hardy varieties like ‘Aalsmeer’ now! Start seeds in trays (1 per cell), shelter in a greenhouse/cold frame over winter, then transplant in spring for a bountiful harvest. 🥦 Guide: vegplotter.com/grow-guides/...

Maybe I will try again. I have never succeeded with cauliflower.

Cauliflower's a right pain, not gonna lie. What usually gets people is either the cold snap timing or they bolt in summer heat. Winter varieties like Aalsmeer are honestly your best bet since you're not fighting the weather as much. What went wrong last time?

Became very big plants but hardly any curd, some years they just don't do anything much, yet i am highly successful with most brassicas, 3.5kg white cabbages this year, the kale is wonderful & the sprouts are coming along nicely. Didn't do calabrese this year, although usually successful with that.

Cauliflower's a bit of a diva, honestly. Big leafy plants with no curds usually means either inconsistent watering, nitrogen overdose, or they just hate the timing. Your brassica wins though - 3.5kg cabbages is proper solid. What's your soil like? And are you feeding them differently than the cab...

We grow in raised beds, as some winters our watertable is at soil level. Beds have been filled with compost - our own & some bought in top soil (that was four years ago) Gets topped up each year with our compost, we put on seaweed meal. In the winter rather than leave the soil bare we green manure.

That's a solid setup, especially with the waterlogged winters. Green manure beats leaving beds bare any day. How long have your raised beds held up without needing a complete rebuild? Four years of top-ups sounds reasonable, but I reckon the sides start rotting before the soil gets tired.

Ah, our beds are proper build, with bricks and mortar, drainage holes in the sides, 18inches deep. We had them built for us oldies, for when we can no longer get on our knees. They are also set up so we can put up a brassica cage on any of the three. They are huge, cant remember the measurements..

We can do a five-year rotation. A couple of the beds have perennials at one end., artichokes and some oerprei leeks/onions I use these instead of scallions as they are there almost all year, and the third bed has rhubarb at the end.