I couldn't be happier - after four years I have finally produced a head of cauliflower.
Last week I found a small head forming, and tried a trick I'd seen on YouTube to use an old pantyhose to tie the outer leaves around the head to protect it.
Took a peek a few days later, still looking good, and I tied it back up (quickly! before any cabbage butterflies could get at it!) to give it another few days to get just a liiiiittle bigger - hoping I wouldn't regret it.
Cauliflower is not the easiest to grow. For three years I tried in raised beds, in large containers and in small, with nothing to show for it. Last year, after finding the only plant that had been showing signs of actually forming a head, suddenly turned black and mushy - I actually threw out the remaining seeds in disgust and promised myself NEVER to waste my time on cauliflower again.
But then...GreenStalk happened. Last year was also the first year I had done some growing in a GreenStalk vertical planter, and later in the season when I was seeing how much better many plants did in the GreenStalk than in my conventional containers, I started thinking maybe just one.more.time with the cauliflower next season, to see how it would do in a GreenStalk.
So I bought more seeds - this time a smaller variety called Igloo - and gave it a go this season. Success! Moderate at any rate - 6 seedlings, av which two damped off, two died an inexplicable death some weeks later, and two - produced heads!!! (the first one caught me off guard, and grew so quickly that I missed tying up the leaves in time - it was delicous and has already been eaten up, but was far too unattractive to photograph 😅 ) But this one, oh my!
I think I may be getting the hang of this, and the GreenStalk definitely made it easier to succeed, so next year I'll definitely be giving cauliflower another go.