Cabbage growing

Cabbage grows best in the cool times of the year and late spring and early fall make ideal times to grow cabbage.  Cabbage comes in shades of green and red.  There are round heads and pointed heads, smooth leaved and crinkled or savoy leaved varieties. If you want cabbage for fresh eating you should choose varieties with small heads on maturity. If you are thinking about making sauerkraut you may want to grow some of the jumbo sized cabbages.

Cabbage also comes in early, midseason and late maturing varieties and for a continuous supply you may want to plant several varieties with different maturation rates.  You can also start some plants later than others or plant both seeds and transplants to lengthen the harvest season. 

Some good cabbage varieties

Round early green modest sized heads include ‘Parel’ or ‘Quick Start’  medium maturing greens-‘Stonehead’, ‘Derby Day’ or ‘Charmant’, late maturing larger green heads, ‘Late Flat Dutch’  or ‘Megaton’  red heads, ‘Primero’, ‘Ruby Ball’ or “Ruby Perfection’  savoy types ‘Purple Savoy’ or ‘Alcosa’ and pointed heads- ‘Caraflex’ or ‘Cour Di Bul’.

Chinese cabbage doesn’t make a head; rather you use the thick stems that grow in a tight cluster for fresh eating or cooking.  Chinese cabbage actually does better in the fall and in the northern half of the country should be planted in August as transplants.  You’ll often find it listed as Pak Choi or Bok Choy. 

Planting cabbage

You can grow cabbage from seed, sown right in the garden a few weeks before the last spring frost, usually early May in zone 5, or start it inside in pots in late March.  Most gardeners who just want a few plants can pick them up in a local nursery and they are some of the earliest nursery plants offered. Look for short, stocky deep green (or red) plants.

Cabbage should be planted in full sun.  Get the transplants into the garden early. The transplants will withstand light frost but cover them if a heavy frost or freeze threatens.  Thin cabbage plants that come up from seed after they have several leaves and leave them 18” apart for small headed varieties and 24” apart for large headed varieties, which is also good spacing for transplants.

Like most vegetables cabbage prefers slightly acidic soil of 6.5 pH but it will grow in slightly more acidic or alkaline conditions.  Cabbage will grow in sandy or clay type soils but they must be well drained. The soil should be fairly fertile before planting. Cabbage should not be fertilized when it is in the early stages of growth, it will make it go to seed instead of forming a head. If you suspect the soil is not very fertile you can work in some 5-10-5 or similar formulation around the plants when they start to form heads.

Cabbage needs even, consistent watering.  Too much water near harvest can cause the heads to split, although that will happen if they get too mature anyway. Keep cabbage weeded, weeds often stunt growth. Make sure to rotate cabbage into a new area of the garden each year to avoid root disease problems.

The biggest problem gardeners have with cabbage is the Cabbage moth, a pretty white moth that lays eggs on cabbage that turn into tiny green worms that eat away at the cabbage heads. You can dust the heads with a garden safe pesticide such as Sevin or rotenone, or better yet- cover the plants with the very thinnest row cover material available either by suspending it over the whole row or covering each plant.  Do this very early in the growing season, around the time of the last frost.  Some people slip an old nylon over developing cabbage heads but the nylon is more likely to cause growth problems than the row cover material.

Harvesting cabbage

Harvest cabbage as soon as the heads are large and firm.  Don’t wait too long or the heads will split.  Split heads can still be eaten, but they won’t store very well.  If you have many heads maturing at the same time and can’t keep up with eating them fresh you may want to twist each plant a half turn in its garden space.  This breaks some roots and slows the uptake of water and slows maturity. 

Cut the cabbage head off the stalk with a sharp knife, leaving several thick outer leaves on it to protect the head until ready to eat. It will store like this in a cool place for a couple weeks.  You can store cabbage longer by cleaning the head and wrapping it in plastic, then keeping it about 40-45 degrees.  A whole cabbage plant can be pulled out of the ground and hung upside down in a root cellar, or other cool dark, moist place.  Some cabbage varieties store better than others and the conditions at harvest and during storage influence the keeping time.

Cabbage can’t be frozen for storage but it can be canned or turned into sauerkraut. Regular cabbage will withstand light frost before harvest but oriental varieties should be protected from frost.  All cabbage should be harvested before a freeze.

Some container cabbage varieties

If you enjoy cabbage but don’t have a lot of garden space, don’t despair.  There are several varieties of cabbage that can grow in containers, as long as you have a spot that gets 5 or more hours of sunlight each day. 

These varieties are all small and mature quickly.  Each head will make 1-4 servings of cabbage, depending on the size it is harvested and how well you like cabbage.  ‘Gonzales’ is a green cabbage that makes a 2 lb. head in 60 days.  ‘Primer’ is a red cabbage that makes a 1-2 lb. head in 72 days.  ‘Red Express’ will also grow quickly, making a red, 2 lb. head in about 55 days.  ‘Earliana’ is a fast maturing green cabbage, making a 2 lb. head in 57 days.  A 2 lb. head is just a bit larger than a softball.

If you prefer Oriental types of cabbage ‘Soloist’ is a pointed Chinese cabbage that makes a compact 1-1/2 lb. head in only 50 days.  It is best grown in the fall. ‘Toy Choi’, ‘Ching Chaing’ and ‘Bonsai’ are miniature forms of pak choi cabbage that will make single servings of greens in 30-40 days.   Several plants can grow in a 2 gallon pot.

Your containers should hold a minimum of 2 gallons of planting medium for each cabbage.   If you are using large containers for multiple plants, each mini cabbage should have about 8 square inches of space.  Use planting medium not garden soil.  Planting medium is composed of peat moss, vermiculite and other things.  It is lightweight, drains well and is free of weeds and disease.  Try to find a planting medium that does not contain fertilizer. 

Since cabbage likes cool growing conditions light colored pots rather than black ones, may reflect the sunlight and not heat the roots as fast. Moisten the medium before filling the pot.  It’s a good idea to set small blocks of wood or stones under the pot so that it drains better.  Pots sitting on a flat surface with drainage holes in the bottom may drain slowly.