How to Grow Winter Cabbage | Gardener’s Path (2024)

FAQs

How do you grow winter cabbage? ›

Winter Cabbage is best sown in a greenhouse or similar environment in March and April for planting out about 4 weeks later. Sow 1 seed per cell in a modular tray at about 2 cm deep in a good quality seed compost. Apply a gentle liquid seaweed fertilizer every week until ready to plant out.

Transplant the young cabbages 18ins/45cms apart in the row with 18ins/45cm between each row. Firm the soil around each plant and water the plants well to settle them in.

Harvesting. Sowings of spring, summer and winter varieties can provide cabbages throughout the year. They generally take about four to six months to reach maturity, depending on the type. Harvest them once they have reached the size you want, and formed a firm head.

Like most vegetables, cabbage needs at least 6 hours of full sun each day; more is better. It also needs fertile, well-drained, moist soil with plenty of rich organic matter. The soil pH should be between 6.5 and 6.8 for optimum growth and to discourage clubroot disease.

Cabbage love growing in cooler conditions, so plant in the cooler months of autumn, winter and spring. Seedlings can be frost damaged in winter, so if you're growing in a heavy frost zone - plant cabbages in late summer so they've matured enough to be frost tolerant come the height of winter.

Cabbage should never be planted near tomatoes, beans, peppers or strawberries. In fact, this holds true for all plants in the brassica family, such as broccoli, kale, and cauliflower.

Cabbage plants that are planted too close to one another can essentially run into one another, restricting growing space and resulting in cabbage heads that are stunted or don't grow properly.

How to grow: Mid-March though May is a good time to start early and mid-season cabbage seed indoors. Transplant cabbage starts, both early and mid-season starts, into the ground in May and June. Sow seed for late varieties in May, and transplant them out in June through July.

The plant will send up as many as 6 new heads – harvest when about tennis ball-size. Begin harvesting leaf cabbage about a month after planting by harvesting the outer leaves using the cut-and-come-again method.

Do cabbage plants last all winter? ›

Most ornamental cabbages and kales will last through winter in most parts of the country, but they will not survive at temperatures colder than -5 degrees Fahrenheit. Though flowering kale and cabbage are perennials, it's best to treat them as annuals.

Cabbage takes between 60 and 100 days to mature. A July planting will begin to form a head as summer turns to fall, and be ready to harvest before a hard freeze.

Watering is the single most important thing you can do to get the cabbage to grow quickly. Fertilizer helps as well. When the plants start producing new leaves, sidedress them with 20-20-20. Don't forget to water the fertilizer in.

After filling with your seed-starting mix, plant three or four seeds per cell about a quarter of an inch (1/2 cm) deep. Cabbage needs a lot of bright sunlight to grow or plants will become leggy.

Water requirements vary from 380 to 500 mm depending on climate and length of growing season. The crop transpiration increases during the crop growing period with a peak toward the end of the season.

Cabbage should be planted in a full sun location with fertile and well-draining soils. It is a good practice to incorporate compost and a granular fertilizer into the soil before you plant. Cabbages are heavy feeders. Space plants at least 24″ apart.

Cabbage can store well in a hydrator drawer. You can put the cabbage in a plastic bag to help retain moisture but it isn't totally necessary. Handle your cabbage with care. If you use only a partial head, make sure to tightly wrap the remainder and put into the fridge.

Green and red cabbages are harvested in two seasons; in summer, cabbage heads are looser and more tender and in winter, cabbage heads have dense, tightly compact leaves. Summer cabbage is traditionally eaten within weeks of harvest, but winter cabbage can be stored under the right conditions for up to 10 months.

While frosts are still possible, plant cool-season crops that are more tolerant of colder temperatures. Crops like peas, spinach, kale, and cabbage can power through a light spring frost.

Wormwood, thyme, marigolds, tomatoes, tansy and peppermint are all believed to help keep the cabbage worms away. You can also use companion plants like buckwheat and yarrow to attract beneficial insects to fight the cabbage worms for you.

What is a companion plant for cabbage? ›

Plants like chamomile, wormwood, chives, summer savory, coriander, tansy, yarrow, dill, mint, thyme, hyssop, chervil, geranium, rue, sage, and oregano are all very beneficial companion plants to cabbage.

Spraying with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki) every 1 to 2 weeks will also help control cabbage family pests. Sevin also is effective. And, the few pests that remain on the vegetables can be washed out after harvest using water and a small amount of detergent or other surfactant.

Suitable for feeding a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, plus trees, shrubs and flowers. Epsom Salts has very high magnesium content. This nutrient is vital to the healthy growth and development of all plants.

For the combined effect of cowdung and nitrogen fertilizer, the results revealed that combination of cowdung (15 t ha ^-1) with 160 N kg ha ^-1 produced highest fresh weight of cabbage.

Weed, Feed, and Water Your Cabbages

Feed with a water-soluble plant food, such as Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics® Edibles Plant Nutrition, every seven days until harvest. Weed carefully to avoid damaging the roots of your cabbage plants.

Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi can stunt the growth of your tomato plant because they out-compete them for the same nutrients. These vegetables are in the brassica family.

You can prune the leaves any time you want so long as a head has started forming. Prior to that, the plant needs those outer leaves to feed the roots and the forming head. You can remove diseased or pest-damaged leaves at any old time, of course, to keep your crop healthy.

Cool season cole crops, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and other cooking greens, as well as lettuce, grow quickly and can be started indoors mid-January to be ready to transplant into the garden in about eight to ten weeks, just in time for early spring weather.

“Sometimes, at about 45 days post-planting, I'll spray my cabbages with 5l/ ha of Fertiflo, a liquid fertiliser of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K),” he says.

Does cabbage regrow after cutting? ›

"Most types of cabbage, if you do cut off the bottoms to regrow again, will sprout out some fresh leaves," says Jabbour. Similar to lettuce, you can plant the cabbage once roots appear.

Cabbage. When the cabbage head is cut, the plant, denied the ability to set seed (which it would do from an uncut head the next year), tries again. It does so by forming shoots at the base of every leaf. Left alone, it would produce six or more little heads use- ful for soup, but not much more.

Once your cabbage is planted: Let the sunshine in: Cabbages need full sun – at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. Water wisely: It's best to water in the morning and at the base of the plant (soil level) keeping the foliage dry.

ANSWER: Cabbage plants do not come back year after year, as it is considered an annual plant, however, cabbage may actually be a biennial if treated properly. When harvesting, leave just enough of the bottom leaves behind to keep the plant alive to support further growth.

And with a little planning it's even possible to enjoy cabbages year round, by planting a carefully curated succession of varieties suited to each season.

Cabbages are in the brassica family, and this is a cool-season bunch. Very few of them thrive when it's hot outside. If temperatures rise over 80 degrees F consistently, cabbage plants will either stop growing or they'll bolt (produce flowers and then go to seed).

Sow seeds directly into a prepared bed in midsummer. Some gardeners might wonder when to plant winter cabbage. As long as you wait until midsummer, you can sow anytime until late summer or even early fall in mild climates. Seeds will germinate in temperatures as low as 40 degrees F.

Green and red cabbages are harvested in two seasons; in summer, cabbage heads are looser and more tender and in winter, cabbage heads have dense, tightly compact leaves. Summer cabbage is traditionally eaten within weeks of harvest, but winter cabbage can be stored under the right conditions for up to 10 months.

The winter cabbages are generally sown in late April through May, to be planted out in July so as to provide a harvest from November right through to March. They're ball or drum-headed and obviously very hardy.

Distance between plants in the row shall normally be 40-70 cm (15-27 inches) Distance between rows shall normally be 60-90 cm (23-35 inches). Keep in mind that these numbers vary depending on the desirable size of each head. The closer the plants are located to each other, the smaller the head they produce.

What should not be planted near cabbage? ›

Cabbage should never be planted near tomatoes, beans, peppers or strawberries. In fact, this holds true for all plants in the brassica family, such as broccoli, kale, and cauliflower.

Coax them Along. Two weeks after planting, side-dress the cabbage with 20-10-10 fertilizer. This is a high-nitrogen fertilizer that will give the cabbage the boost it needs to grow large. To determine where to place the fertilizer, measure the cabbage from the center to the outer leaves.