How to grow cauliflowers

Cauliflower is a cool-season brassica grown for its tight head of undeveloped flower buds, called a curd, that forms at the center of a rosette of broad leaves. White types need the curd shielded from sunlight to stay pale rather than turning green and bitter, so growers gather the outer leaves over the forming head and tie them shut partway through development; colored curds skip that step and stay in full sun. It occupies a bed for one tight window each season, moving from transplant to a head ready to cut in about two months.

The hardest part of growing cauliflower well is holding it in its narrow comfort range. Ohio State University Extension puts the ideal range at 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit and warns against letting it run above 75, while University of Minnesota Extension found that daytime heat near 86 degrees paired with nights over 77 can stop crown formation altogether. A second-year gardener who starts a spring planting on the same calendar as other spring crops often hits head formation just as early summer heat arrives; the head stalls out at an inch or two across and never fills in.