Cabbage
Brassica oleracea, Capitata Grp. (BRASSICACEAE)
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Cabbages
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow cabbage in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many cabbages to plant
- Growing conditions for cabbage
- When to plant cabbage
- How to plant cabbage
- Watering, fertilizing, and pruning cabbage
- Companion plantings for cabbage
- How to harvest, store, and use cabbage
Growing Cabbages
Cabbage are cool-season, half-hardy perennial and long-time, home-gardener favorites, an all-purpose vegetable to grow and harvest from your garden. A cole-family vegetable.
Cabbage are available in cultivars with many different foliage colors, head shapes, sizes, and with maturity ranges from as short as 7 weeks to as long as 4 months. Red and curly-leaved savoy hybrids are mildest in flavor. [See also: Bok Choy or Pak Choy; Celery Mustard].
Cabbage Plant and Care Guide
How Much to Plant
Allow 4–8 plants per household member. For sauerkraut, allow 6 plants, yielding 10–12 qts. (9.5–11.4 l).
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 10–15 days.
Average Climates: Sow seed indoors 4–6 weeks before last expected frost and harden seedlings 5–7 days before transplanting.
Mild-Winter Climates: Sow seed outdoors in partial shade in spring, autumn, or winter when soil is 45–90°F (7–32°C).
Autumn–Winter Gardens:
Cabbage: Sow seed from May–July or transplants from June–August for harvest in late summer, autumn, or winter.
Chinese Cabbage: Sow seed from June–July or transplants from Mid-July–August for harvest in late autumn.
Sow seed 1/2-in. (12-mm) deep and 1 in. (25–mm) apart, thinning to 24–30–in. (60–75–cm) apart, in rows 2–4–ft. (60–120 cm) apart.
Plant successions 3–4 weeks apart.
Best Conditions for Growth
Growing temperature: 45–75°F (7–24°C). Tolerates light frosts. Bolts in temperatures over 80°F (27°C) and when daylight hours lengthen in summer; avoid planting in areas with more than 3–4 hours of daily sunlight.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich. 6.5–7.5 pH. Prepare soil at least 18 in. (45 cm) deep. Rotate plantings with legumes and leafy greens to avoid nitrogen depletion.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep evenly moist; avoid wetting foliage. Apply ample water during the head-development stage. Fertilize monthly with 10–3–3 formula. Mulch. Cultivate. Aphid, cabbage looper, cabbageworm, cutworm, root maggot and powdery mildew susceptible.
Pairing Recommendations
Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
50–60 days for early cultivars; 90–120 days for late cultivars. Cut heads from basal stalk when full, firm, and 4–10 in. (10–25 cm) in diameter, discarding outer leaves.
How to Store and Preserve
Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator for 3–4 months; cured with brine as sauerkraut and refrigerated, 5–6 months; brined and canned, 1 year. Blanched or steamed leaves, rolled tightly around an herb-seasoned filling of ground meat and rice, produce savory cabbage rolls.