Growing Cabbage
Useful Tips On Growing Cabbage
Growing cabbage is not particularly difficult, though you may find it easier to start from plants, rather than from seed. Cabbage is a biennial, but is normally grown as an annual. It is during the first year that the head or leaves are harvested for food. It's grown as a biennial when cabbage seed is the desired crop.
Cabbage is a cool season crop, but can tolerate hot summers if kept watered. In mild winter areas it is possible, through staggered planting, to harvest the vegetable year round. One of the nicer features about growing cabbage is that one has great latitude in choosing the harvest periods. Early season and late season crops, consisting of several varieties, makes this option possible.
If you plan to start cabbage in the garden directly from seed, the seeds are planted 1/4" deep and 3” to 4” apart. If you are planting more than one row, the rows should be at least 18" apart, and 24” to 30" apart for late season varieties. Seeds germinate fairly quickly, usually in 3 to 4 days, and the plants should eventually be thinned to 18 -24 inches apart. Cabbage does not like crowding, and the heads can easily grow to 6 to 10 inches in diameter for many varieties.
Pests include aphids and the green cabbage worm. Soapy water spray, rotenone, or malathion is best for controlling aphids, while rotenone or vegetable dust works to keep the cabbage worm at bay. A light application of nitrogen applied periodically will enhance growth.
Many gardeners like to start seeds in a greenhouse, starting the seeds at least 6 weeks before it's time to set plants out. Others purchase plants from a nursery when it's time to plant. Whether you plant from seeds or transplants, it's a good idea to time your planting, so that the heads will form and mature either before, or after, the hottest part of the summer.
When growing cabbage, you have to keep the plants moist, and the roots need to be kept cool, so application of mulch is always a good idea. Once the heads mature, be careful about overhead watering, as this can cause the heads to split. The same can happen if there are periods of rainy weather after the heads have matured.
In laying out a vegetable garden, you sometimes can have a better harvest when a given vegetable is planted next to a good companion plant. When growing cabbage, good companion plants are aromatic herbs, onions, celery, beets, and potatoes. These are also good companion plants for other members of the cabbage family, such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Mature heads can tolerate a light frost, but need to be harvested before heavy freezing conditions set in. Just remember, if you're a cabbage lover, to stagger the planting a bit so you'll be able to harvest over a longer period of time, and not get the whole crop and once.