Latest / The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners / Episode 39 — Cauliflower — Creamy, Crinkly and Clever

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Episode 39 — Cauliflower — Creamy, Crinkly and Clever · The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners

• 0:28
  Welcome back to the Beanstalk, fellow Beans.
• 0:32
  My name is John, your neighborhood garden buddy, and
• 0:36
  today we're talking about one of the most surprisingly nuanced
• 0:40
  vegetables in the garden, Cauliflower.
• 0:44
  I used to think cauliflower was a boring supermarket filler
• 0:48
  until I actually grew it myself out in the patch.
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  It's part diva, part engineer, and part edible art project.
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  It can be creamy white, buttery yellow, even lavender purple.
• 1:04
  And then there's Romanesco, the fractal masterpiece that looks
• 1:08
  like a tiny green alien city designed by mathematicians.
• 1:14
  So buckle and beans. Today we're going deep into the
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  Brassica brain space. Why grow cauliflower?
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  If you're into cooking, this one pretty much sells itself.
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  Cauliflower is neutral enough to take on any flavor, Hardy enough
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  to act like a potato or a grain in recipes, and fancy enough to
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  impress people without you having to tell them you were the
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  one who grew it. For self-reliance types,
• 1:46
  cauliflower is an absolute unit in the fills, the belly, and
• 1:51
  stores well department. You can roast it, mash it, rice
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  it, pickle it, freeze it, or turn it into faux Buffalo wings
• 2:03
  and pretend you're healthy. From the gardening perspective,
• 2:08
  it feels oddly satisfying to peel back those outer leaves and
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  reveal a perfect head you coaxed into being.
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  It's the horticultural equivalent of a magic trick.
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  How to grow cauliflower starts with one important admission.
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  Cauliflower is picky. Not impossible, just opinionate
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  it. It likes steady, predictable,
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  cool weather, usually in the early spring or fall in most
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  zones. If you're going for spring
• 2:41
  heads, start seeds indoors about four to six weeks before your
• 2:46
  last frost. Harden them off gently.
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  Cauliflower hates shocks and plant them out in rich soil that
• 2:55
  drains well. This plant is a feeder, so don't
• 2:59
  skimp on compost or fertilizer. I always say cauliflower likes
• 3:05
  to feel like it's eating steak dinners while being misted with
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  cool breezes. Keep it consistently watered.
• 3:13
  The heads form best when there's no drought stress. 1 Trick
• 3:19
  gardeners use this leaf blanching, taking the large
• 3:23
  outer leaves and folding or tying them up and over the
• 3:26
  growing head to protect that signature creamy color.
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  Some modern varieties are self blanching, which is nice if
• 3:35
  tying knots and leaves makes you feel like you're preparing
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  produce for a wedding. If you live in a hotter climate,
• 3:43
  switch to fall planting for a much smoother experience.
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  Harvesting cauliflower has its own quiet excitement.
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  You're watching for heads that are fully formed, tight, and
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  around 6 to 8 inches across, depending on the variety.
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  If you wait too long, the curds start to separate and lose that
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  dense texture. Once they begin to loosen,
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  that's your sign to cut. Always harvest in the morning if
• 4:14
  you can. That's when plants have the
• 4:17
  highest moisture content and flavors tend to be sweetest.
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  Cut the head cleanly with some leaves still attached.
• 4:27
  They protect during storage and also taste good sauteed.
• 4:32
  By the way, if you're growing Romanesco, harvesting can feel
• 4:37
  like you're collecting a trophy from a geometry fair.
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  Those spirals are the stuff of plant nerd dreams.
• 4:47
  Common pests and problems for cauliflower feel like a reunion
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  tour of the Brassica villains. First up, cabbage worms.
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  These green caterpillars are basically stealth eating
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  machines that hide under leaves and chew holes big enough to
• 5:03
  turn a beautiful planet into Swiss cheese.
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  They're the offspring of the small white cabbage moth you'll
• 5:11
  inevitably see fluttering around like it's just there to enjoy
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  the scenery. The damage shows up as ragged
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  edges and frass insect poop on the leaves.
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  It happens because brassicas are favorite host for these moths.
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  The organic fix is simple row covers early on to physically
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  block them, plus hand picking or spraying with BT, a bacteria
• 5:38
  that targets caterpillars but won't harm you or bees.
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  Aphids are also fond of cauliflower, especially during
• 5:48
  cool stretches. They cluster in colonies,
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  sucking SAP and stressing the plant.
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  You'll see curled leaves, sticky honeydew, and sometimes sooty
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  mold. This happens when populations
• 6:03
  explode faster than predators can keep up, especially when
• 6:08
  plants are underwater stress. A good blast from the hose, plus
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  encouraging ladybugs and hoverflies keeps them in check.
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  Neem oil can help too, though I usually go biological first.
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  Then there's one of cauliflower's signature heart
• 6:29
  breaks buttoning. This is when the plant forms
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  tiny button sized heads instead of big ones.
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  It looks ridiculous and it feels insulting.
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  Buttoning happens when seedlings get stressed by cold, drought,
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  or nutrient swings early in life.
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  The plant basically panics and decides, Yep, this is my head
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  now. The fix isn't so much treatment
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  as prevention. Protect seedlings, feed them
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  steadily, and keep soil moisture consistent.
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  Companion planting for cauliflower isn't complicated,
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  but it does matter. Aromatic herbs like dill, thyme,
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  and sage help distract moths and beetles that otherwise would
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  make a lunch buffet of your brassicas.
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  Legumes like peas help by fixing nitrogen into the soil, which
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  heavy feeders like cauliflower appreciate immensely.
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  On the flip side, don't plant cauliflower too close to
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  strawberries. They tend to compete in annoying
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  ways. And avoid planting too many
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  brassicas together unless your pest control plan is solid.
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  Because pests treat brassica heavy beds like an all you can
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  eat coupon day. Seed saving for cauliflower is
• 8:02
  surprisingly advanced. Cauliflower is a biennial,
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  meaning it needs two seasons to produce seed.
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  The first year forms the head, the second year the plant bolts
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  sunset seed. The catch is they cross easily
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  with other brassicas, so if purity matters, you need to
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  isolate varieties by distance or time.
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  Most home growers don't bother and instead buy fresh seed.
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  If you do decide to save seed, leave the plant in the ground or
• 8:41
  dig and store roots over winter. If you get serious cold, then
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  let it flower in spring. The seed pods dry down like
• 8:51
  little rattles and you collect them once they're crisp.
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  It's a rewarding process, but definitely for the more advanced
• 9:00
  beans in the patch. Pros and cons of cauliflower are
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  pretty straightforward. Pros It's delicious, versatile,
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  nutrient dense, visually impressive, stores well and
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  plays well with both fancy cooking and simple weeknight
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  meals. Cons It's fussy, needs good
• 9:26
  timing, attracts every brassica pest known to man, and
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  occasionally decides to button out a spite.
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  But in my experience, the first perfect head you grow makes the
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  cons feel like background noise. And now for the best part.
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  The recipe. Today we're making roasted
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  garlic parmesan cauliflower steaks.
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  Ingredients are simple. One large head of cauliflower, 3
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  tablespoons olive oil, one teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon
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  of black pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1/4 cup grated
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  parmesan and a squeeze of lemon. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
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  Trim the leaves off your cauliflower and slice the head
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  vertically into roughly 1 inch thick slabs.
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  They'll look like tree cross sections, which is half the fun.
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  Brush both sides with olive oil and season with the salt and
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  pepper. Lay them on a sheet pan and
• 10:44
  scatter the garlic on top. Roast for about 20 to 25 minutes
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  until they're golden brown with crisp edges.
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  Pull them out, flip them over, sprinkle the parmesan over the
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  top and slide them back in for another 5 minutes until the
• 11:02
  cheese melts and gets toasty. Finish with lemon juice before
• 11:07
  serving. It is shockingly satisfying for
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  how simple it is. Here is some fun facts about
• 11:16
  cauliflower. First, Romanesco is technically
• 11:21
  a cauliflower, but it has a perfect fractal pattern where
• 11:25
  each tiny bud is a miniature version of the whole head.
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  It's one of those plants that makes mathematicians and
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  gardeners equally excited. Second, cauliflower as we know
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  it traces its origins to the Mediterranean, where the cooler
• 11:44
  coastal climates made it a natural fit.
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  Third, purple cauliflower gets its color from anthocyanins, the
• 11:54
  same pigments found in blueberries and red cabbage, and
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  it keeps a hint of color even after cooking 4th.
• 12:05
  Cauliflower once had a reputation in Europe as
• 12:08
  aristocratic food because it was labor intensive to grow before
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  modern breeding. 5th cauliflower is around 92% water, which is
• 12:20
  why steaming or boiling it too aggressively can turn it to mush
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  faster than you intended. And 6th cauliflower rice isn't
• 12:30
  just a fad, it's actually been used in kitchens for hundreds of
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  years to stretch dishes when grains were scarce.
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  Welcome to the garden nerd corner, fellow beans.
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  Cauliflower belongs to the species Brassica OL erasiae,
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  which includes cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards,
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  Brussels sprouts, and mustard, all descended from the same
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  humble, wild coastal mustard plant.
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  Through selected breeding, humans coax that one species
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  into wildly different directions.
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  Leaves for kale, buds for broccoli, swollen stems for
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  kohlrabi, and the meristem. Basically a compressed floral
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  structure for cauliflower and romanesco.
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  Romanesco in particular follows A logarithmic spiral that obeys
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  Fibonacci sequencing, which is why it looks so mathematically
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  intentional. Cauliflowers need for cool,
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  stable weather ties directly back to its ancestral coastline
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  origins, where mild and predictable seasons shaped its
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  Physiology. In a way, every head of
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  cauliflower is a little history lesson dressed up as a
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  vegetable. Next time on the Beanstalk,
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  we're getting into irrigation. I know it may not sound flashy,
• 14:04
  but water management is one of the most important skills in
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  gardening. Whether you hand water with a
• 14:11
  hose, rely on drip lines, use oyas, or let the rain do the
• 14:16
  work, how and when the water gets to the roots changes
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  everything about how plants perform.
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  We'll look at methods, timing, and a few smart tricks that make
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  those hot summer afternoons a little easier.
• 14:34
  Thanks again for hanging out with me today on the Beanstalk,
• 14:37
  fellow Beans. If you want to keep the
• 14:41
  conversation going, we've got a growing community over at the
• 14:44
  Beanstalk Garden Club on Facebook.
• 14:48
  Come join us, share your garden photos, swap ideas, and dig a
• 14:52
  little deeper into all things that grow together.
• 14:58
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• 15:01
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• 15:05
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• 15:08
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• 15:12
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• 15:16
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• 15:19
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• 15:26
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• 15:32
  From our patch to yours, keep on Clive.