Page 37 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2024

weather. We also water around each plant when planting out to settle the soil around the plant and support them.
From our experience, in Essex, it tends to take around 12 to 14 weeks from sowing to maturity for a Romanesco, however that can differ by a couple of weeks on either side depending on the weather. Therefore, we tend to do succession sowing of these types of crops where there is a specific show date we are working to, in the hope that at least one of the sowings will hit maturity shortly before the show date we’re aiming for. For the 2024 National Championships, we’ll likely do a couple of sowings from early to mid-June onwards, every two weeks, to try and get some Romanesco heads that are in optimal condition for 21 September.
As the plants grow, we tend to give them a feed of high nitrogen fertiliser such as chicken manure pellets to encourage strong leafy growth and large plants that will be able to support a decent size head when the time comes. Without a strong plant, even with the best will in the world, the Romanesco head is unlikely to grow very large before it starts to go over its peak condition.
the plants a high potash liquid feed to encourage rapid growth of the Romanesco head so that it grows large whilst remaining in good condition.
For exhibition, when harvesting, we treat them the same as cauliflowers, i.e.
The plants are also regularly watered, at least once per week, but more often in warmer weather. One thing we have found is that they don’t overly like the really warm weather we (sometimes) get in Essex. They tend to grow a sturdier plant and therefore a larger head when it comes to it if they are planted a bit later on and are harvested in early autumn, so fingers crossed that the timing of the National Championships will suit our plants.
lift the plant and trim the stalk and remove the
outer leaves. However, we don’t trim the inner leaves immediately, we then just trim these back as we’d
be looking to exhibit each head with its inner leaves trimmed round the edges just before exhibiting. All leaves are then slightly further trimmed back on the morning of the show, so the exhibit looks as fresh as possible at judging time. Note, although the face
of a standard cauliflower is delicate and should be treated with care, we find
that Romanesco cauliflowers need even more care and attention at this stage.
Due to the spiral and pointed nature of
the curds, one wrong move and you’ve
got a slightly flattened point which it is unfortunately impossible to hide on the show bench, so please pack them carefully. Emily Harris FNVS
we tend to give them a feed of high nitrogen fertiliser such as chicken manure pellets to encourage strong leafy growth
As the heads of a Romanesco are green, there is no need to tie up the leaves around the head as it starts to form like standard white cauliflowers. On the contrary, you want the head to be in the light as fully as possible to enable consistent lime green curds to form through photosynthesis. As the heads start to form, we usually give
And finally, the Judges and exhibitors guide advises that Romanesco should be judged as per the 15 point veg Calabrese looking for;
• Romanescoandothertypesof
immature edible flower heads can be judged using the same criteria as Calabrese. Single central heads are required and not side spears.
• Freshfirmheadsofgoodshape. The colour should be typical of the cultivar and show no signs of flowering. Heads should be central with no loose side spears.
• Defectsincludespecimensthatare soft, discoloured, show any sign of flowering, misshapenness and lack freshness.
Romanesco are a 15-point vegetable, based on Condition 5, Uniformity 3, Size 3, Shape 2 and Colour 2
As we mentioned earlier, please let us know how you get on growing the Navona F1 Romanesco as it’s great to get feedback from around the country on your varying growing methods and successes. We would also really appreciate it if you could take notes through the season and share your findings from sowing, right through to eating. Thank you.
Fiona Shenfield FNVS
Simply Vegetables 37