Plant Library
Early Snowball Cauliflower
Brassica oleracea var. botrytis 'Early Snowball'
Height: 24 inches
Spacing: 12 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: (annual)
Group/Class: Heirloom
Description:
A wonderful early maturing, heirloom variety; produces 8" fully domed white heads with large, vigorous leaves; delicious and crunchy, ideal for pickling, roasting, freezing or eating with dip; self-blanching selection, ideal for fall harvests
Edible Qualities
Early Snowball Cauliflower is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities. The round green tightly-wrapped heads of foliage are typically harvested when mature. The heads have a sweet taste and a crunchy texture.
The heads are most often used in the following ways:
- Fresh Eating
- Eating When Cooked/Prepared
- Cooking
- Pickling
- Freezing
Planting & Growing
Early Snowball Cauliflower will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.
This plant is typically grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America, and it is considered by many to be an heirloom variety.
Early Snowball Cauliflower is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.
