For consistent crops of tasty, high-quality caulis, it’s best to choose F1 hybrid varieties, and if you’ve ever had problems with clubroot disease, select resistant varieties. Look too for varieties with an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), which shows they performed well in trials – see our list of AGM fruit and veg for RHS-recommended varieties of cauliflowers and many other crops.

While you can certainly buy brassica collars for your plants, these simple tools are just too easy to make at home with materials from your recycling bin to not try at least once. Personally, I prefer cardboard. It is easy to work with and will ultimately decompose. Just follow these steps to make your own brassica collars: White colored varieties of cauliflower will need shading – also known as 'blanching' –to keep them from discoloring, so that they will be tender and white when they are harvested. Position the flaps so that they cover as much of the opening as possible, without damaging the plant stem. Fabric roll tube– after a roll of fabric is used up, the leftover cardboard cylinder will give you enough material for many plant collars. You might be able to find this item from an upholstery shop, a fabric supply store, or a craft store (such as JoAnn’s, Michael’s, etc.) Summer varieties – usually sow indoors from winter to early spring. They are fast growing and form smaller heads, ready to harvest in four or five months. They are generally easier to grow successfully than later varieties, especially if harvested before any hot, dry weather.Harvest cauliflowers as soon as the head is large enough, when still firm and compact. Don’t wait too long though – once it starts to separate, it’s past its best and will taste bitter. White varieties should be harvested before they turn yellow. Mini varieties can be harvested at tennis-ball size. The height is 4 inches, so we would need to cut a rectangular piece of cardboard that is 4 inches by 6.28 inches. Then, we would curl the cardboard into a tube and join the ends with staples to make our collar. A plant collar can help to protect your plants against common pests, including cutworms and cabbage root maggots. Plant collars are often called brassica collars, broccoli collars, or cabbage collars, but they can also help to protect tomatoes and other plants as well.

Of course, plant collars will add a little extra effort to your gardening. However, it is worthwhile to protect your plants from devastating pest damage. You can also use a flexible plastic sheet to make a plant collar. The same concept we used for cardboard plant collars would apply here. Cover the crop at all times with insect-proof mesh or fleece, supported on canes, and put brassica collars around the base of plant stems – this will protect them from most brassica pests, including cabbage caterpillars, cabbage root fly and pigeons Gently place the plant in the hole, trying not to disturb the roots, then fill the hole repeatedly with water. Called ‘puddling it’, this also refills the hole with soil and ensures the plant is sitting in a large area of moist groundDifferent varieties grow to various sizes, to suit whatever space you have available, from huge heads (curds) up to 30cm (1ft) across to mini-caulis just 10cm (4in) wide. Winter varieties tend to be larger and slow growing, taking up a lot of room for six months or more, so if you’re short on space, choose smaller, faster-growing summer or mini varieties. Cover your crops – use a very fine mesh netting to protect plants from pests such as flea beetle, egg-laying moths and butterflies (which produce caterpillars) and birds. These net cloches allow sunlight and water to pass through while preventing pests from getting in