Marian Carthy sent me this photo of her Winter Roscoff cauliflower on St. Patrick's day, when it was flowering in her tunnel in Co Leitrim. She says" This is Winter Roscoff which bloomed last Sunday after a very long time a growin. I have grown may types of vegetables but this is the first successful cauliflower so I'm delighted with it. There was no sign of anything blooming a week ago and I could'nt believe my eyes when I went into the polytunnel on Sunday evening and there it was, pure perfection. You are welcome to use the picture to promote it- everyone should grow a WinterRoscoff."
My outdoor ones are now producing curds. Winter Roscoff, an old variety re-introduced by the Irish Seed Savers Association takes almost a full year to produce a curd but what a great time to do it. The leeks are bolting, the carrots are getting a bit hairy, and the potatoes a bit wrinkly. They can reach enormous size and can sometimes go perennial. I grew a few last year for the house and although most of them died two have survived to produce for another year, producing a head on each of several stems.
Until now I have kept really poor records of when things happen in my garden but all that is going change. Phoebe Bright has started a 'Seed Trials' website into which I am going to put this sort of data into. It will be really interesting to have data on things like the date Winter Roscoff cauliflowers are ready. Will they be earlier in Cork than in Leitrim? If anyone else is interested in joining the Seed Trials website, do let me or phoebebright310@gmail.com know.
It's a fabulous looking cauli. Is it organic?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure everyone who grows my seeds does it without chemicals. Perhaps Marian will let us know if se sees this.
ReplyDelete