Tag: from seeds

It is not often that I buy cauliflower, but I do eat it. When I had the chance to buy seeds, I decided to try my hand at growing my own. One nice head would be just fine, but the packet has 600 seeds!

Often my grow boxes, aka little raised beds, become a nursery for seedlings. Once the babies grow, I can redistribute them to large pots or into the ground. A lot of these plants will be pulled up, or cut off, and added to the compost bin.

Cauliflower likes cooler weather. Here in Central Florida it can be planted in fall. I put some of my seeds into a grow box on September 12th, and by October 21st they have really sprouted! (photo below)

Cauliflower plants need a foot or more of space for each plant to grow. That means I will probably grow only one plant in this box! Obviously a lot of these seedlings will have to go. A few can be put into the back garden, and I might use my grow bags for a couple.

According to the UF|IFAS Gardening Solutions “Cauliflower” page, each plant needs to be 12-18 inches apart. All of my gardening areas are small, so I will only be attempting to grow a few cauliflower plants. How much cauliflower do I need anyway?

Self-blanching cauliflower means that when the leaves grow, they will automatically wrap around the head. This is for protection from the sun. Thankfully, I had purchased Snowball Self-blanching, so I shouldn’t have to worry about that – BUT the seed packet says this, “Tie the inner leaves around the crowns as they form to blanch them white.”

Cauliflower Seedlings

After the seeds were planted in this box outside, and just beginning to grow, we had over a week of rain – lots of rain. We had 9 inches in just 2 days and it rained for over a week. I wondered if any of my newly planted seeds would survive, but they did.

The seed packet directions also inform me to provide fertile, well-drained soil and even moisture. I guess they can handle the water. This grow box is not getting a lot of sun. The plants will have more sun in the grow bags.

Once the sun was heading down, I dug up groups of the cauliflower seedlings, from the box, and planted the whole clump into each of two bags.

Once they began to grow, I thinned them down to one plant per bag. After months of growing, I never got an actual cauliflower head, so I began to eat the leaves! Many cruciferous vegetable leaves are edible.

Tendency to Overbuy Seeds

Little seed packages are inexpensive. Because of this, we tend to overbuy. Each seed packet usually has more than enough seeds for a small, backyard garden area.

I’ve divided my seed packets into Fall and Spring, with a few Cow Peas / Black Eyed peas to use in summer. I’m not going to try to grow much next summer.

The exception to this packaging of seeds, is the Moringa. The seeds are large and I think there were only seven or eight in the packet. Also, other larger seeds like squash, cucumber, beans, and watermelon won’t have a lot of seeds. But, if your garden is small, one package will probably work.

I am still learning what to grow in my area, so I have over-bought this past year. Seeds don’t stay viable for more than a year or two – unless the packet says differently. They can’t be kept and stored for long (as far as I know), so there is really no need to stock up without having a plan for sowing.

Saving seeds is fun too, although I am learning that it should not be done if you grow more than one type of that vegetable, or from that family. They can get cross-pollinated and the seeds won’t give you the correct vegetable next time – when you use the saved seeds to grow again. It gets complicated. If you want more info on saving seeds, read this article at Seed Savers Exchange.

I saved lettuce and arugula seeds from Spring and have recently planted those seeds. Both veggies are growing well. I have a lot of seeds left over too.

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