help with cauliflowers!

[gardeningmum05]

i have grown cauliflowers 1 to a 3" pot in my cloche outside and i now have seedlings about 2" high. what do i do now, and is it possible to grow in big pots? any advice gratefully appreciated!

I've grilled my DH on this one - the advice is this;

They're at about the size to be planted outside, so begin hardening them off and beware of late frosts.

If you want to use pots they'll have to be big. About 10 litres capacity. Fill them with John Innes no 2 (for the lime base which is apparently v important)

You must make sure they are well watered, cauliflowers need lots of moisture to thrive. Pots can be quite hard work because of this.

His preference is to grow them in the garden though!

They are susceptible to carrot root fly, so when you plant them (both in pot and garden) put a disc of cardboard or carpet or similar around the stem to prevent the fly laying their eggs in the roots. The disc needs to be about 5 inches in diameter.

Hope that helps

fantastic, thankyou daisy!! off to the garden center for my john innes as we speak.....