Harvest
When to harvest cauliflower
The short answer
Cut a cauliflower as soon as the head is large enough and still firm and compact. Once the curd starts to separate it is past its best and tastes bitter, and white varieties should be cut before they turn yellow. Mini cauliflowers are picked at tennis-ball size.
Cauliflowers go from ready to over in days, and a row sown on one date tends to be ready on one date. Start cutting early and the glut becomes a run.
When it's ready in the UK
RHS says three to six months from sowing to maturity, and with different varieties cauliflowers can be cut in most months. Growth rates vary with the variety, the size of plant and the weather.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cauliflower: sow indoorsFebruary to April | January: no | February: yes | March: yes | April: yes | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Cauliflower: plant outApril to June | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: yes | May: yes | June: yes | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Cauliflower: harvestJune to December | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: yes | December: yes |
Months from Vercro's crop catalogue, the data the Vercro app plans with. It allows about 11 to 17 weeks from sowing to the first harvest. Weather, variety and where you garden move every one of these.
80 UK gardeners had recorded cauliflower in Vercro by 19 September 2026. What Vercro gardens are growing.
How to tell it's ready
How to harvest
- Cut the stem, taking the head with a few leaves beneath it to protect the curd.(RHS)
- Start before they reach full size. Plants sown together tend to mature together.(RHS)
- Shade white heads in hot sun by snapping and folding the leaves over the curd; in winter, tie them over it against hard frost.(RHS)
What moves the date
If you leave it too long
- The head starts to separate: past its best and bitter.(RHS)
- White heads turning yellow.(RHS)
- Florets separating and flowering mean it is over-mature.(Garden Organic)
After picking
- Keeps several days in the fridge; florets can be blanched and frozen.(RHS)
Keep a record of what each bed gave
Log what you pick, and how much, bed by bed. Vercro keeps the record, so next year you know what worked where, and Today shows what your crops need next.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- How to grow Cauliflower, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Cauliflower, Garden Organic. Read 19 September 2026.