Cauliflower Autumn Giant Primus (untreated) - Brassica oleracea

The Autumn Giant Primus Cauliflower is a superb autumn variety, very vigorous, which offers large white heads protected by beautiful green foliage. This autumn cauliflower is sown from March to June for a harvest from September until the first frosts.

With its immaculate white colour and, in recent years, joyfully yellow, orange or purple, the Cauliflower is a flowering vegetable whose fleshy meristem is consumed. It belongs to the large family of Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae) and bears the Latin name Brassica oleracea botrytis. Sometimes called Cyprus Cabbage, Cauliflower is a biennial vegetable plant whose supposed origin is China.

Consumed for the first time in Germany only 300 years ago, this vegetable has earned a special place in our kitchens because it lends itself to many preparations. It can be consumed raw in salads or cooked, plain, in gratin with béchamel sauce or accompanied by a curry sauce that complements its flavor very well. It is a low-calorie vegetable and rich in vitamin C.

There are many varieties of Cauliflowers and each one has a distinct growing season that should be respected. By carefully choosing your seeds, you can have this vegetable all year round.

Cauliflower is a demanding vegetable, requiring excellent base fertilisation and regular moisture.

Harvest: Cauliflower is harvested when its head is well compact by simply cutting it at ground level.

Storage: Cauliflower does not keep very well. It is best to consume it quickly after harvesting. It can be kept for a few days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it after blanching it for 3 minutes in salted boiling water.

Gardener's tip: The main enemy of cauliflower is the Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris brassicae), a pretty creamy white butterfly with small black spots that wakes up from April-May to wreak havoc all summer by devouring its leaves. We prefer to prevent it by installing an insect-proof net tightly on market garden hoops. These nets are easy to set up and reusable to protect, for example, your carrot and leek crops.

The untreated or "NT" seeds come from plants grown conventionally (usually with the use of pesticides), however, they undergo no treatment after harvest. These seeds are allowed in organic market gardening when organic seeds are out of stock.