A ‘Big’ Vegetable Harvest

cauliflower

Last week, I spent some time checking the vegetables my cool-season vegetable garden.  

I was looking to see how they were growing and if any were ready to harvest.  I’ve also learned (the hard way) that it’s important to check for any insect damage so you can treat it early – I got hit bad by spider mites last summer because I wasn’t paying attention.

I have been checking up on my cauliflower plants lately.  Seven days ago, the largest one looked like this…

cool-season vegetable garden

cool-season vegetable garden

Today, it looked like this…

cool-season vegetable garden

Okay, this photo doesn’t really show how big it is, so I put my hand next to it to show the scale…

cool-season vegetable garden

Now, compare this photo with the first one and you can see how big it grew in just one week!

My son, Kai and I harvested this large cauliflower by simply pulling the entire plant out of the ground. 

cool-season vegetable garden

It was quite heavy.   Of course, you can simply cut the cauliflower, but you have to pull the plant out sooner or later.  We chose sooner.

cauliflower

It was at least twice as large as the cauliflower in my local supermarket.  The photo really doesn’t show that though, but this bowl is very wide salad bowl.

cauliflower

I’ve really never noticed how pretty the cauliflower florets are before, have you?

We used some of the cauliflower in our dinner salad, which also included Romaine lettuce and carrots from our garden as well.

cauliflower

Our cauliflower is so huge, I will have to figure out other ways to serve it.

My son’s favorite is smothering it with ranch salad dressing.

I have three other cauliflower plants in the garden.  I may have to give some to my mother, since I don’t know how we will be able to eat it all.

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Cauliflower is a cool-season vegetable, which does best when planted from transplants and not seed.  I have had no problems with growing mine at all – no insect problems, etc.

What is important for growing cauliflower is fertile soil and regular irrigation.

How about you?  Do you grow cauliflower?

Do you have any cauliflower recipes to share? 

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
4 replies
  1. Liza
    Liza says:

    You could try roasting the cauliflower, with olive oil, at 425 degrees for about ten minutes, maybe with some garlic and onions if you'd like. When you pull the brown veggies out of the oven, drizzle with lemon juice and a little parmesan cheese. Makes a great snack.

  2. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    try rolling your cauliflour in a little drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasting it in the oven at 425F. You won't have enough cauliflour – I guarantee it!
    Amy

  3. Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ
    Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ says:

    I like cauliflower the simple way. I steam it to just tender. Then I put some butter, salt, and pepper on it. It is just wonderful this way. I also like it roasted in the oven as mentioned above, but to me, steamed plain is best.

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