How much space does a cabbage plant need?
Space cabbages at least 24-36 inches apart in even spacing or 12-14 inches apart in rows spaced 36-44 inches apart.
Standard cabbage varieties should be spaced about 14 inches apart to allow the roots to spread; dwarf varieties can be spaced closer than that. Summer cabbage can be started from seed, approximately one month before the last expected frost.
When placing cabbage plants in your garden, be sure to space seedlings 12 to 24 inches (30-60 cm.) apart to give them plenty of room for growing large heads. Early varieties of cabbage can be planted 12 inches (30 cm.) apart and will grow anywhere from 1- to 3-pound heads (454 gr.
The 4-inch spacing is for bush beans and spinach. A 6-inch spacing is needed for Swiss chard, leaf lettuce and parsley. A whole 12-inch square is required for each broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, eggplant, muskmelon and pepper plant.
Limit your plants to one per 5-gallon (19 L.) container. Your container-grown cabbage will still grow planted closer together, but the heads will be noticeably smaller. Cabbage grows best when the daytime temperature is around 60 F.
- Mustard plants.
- Strawberries.
- Tomatoes.
- Grapes.
- Pole beans.
A 4 x 4 square foot or raised bed garden is ideal for growing cabbage, and when you don't have a lot of room for a garden. A 4-foot wide raised vegetable bed makes it easy to tend the bed from either side. The length can be anywhere from 4 to 20 feet or longer, depending on the amount of space you have available.
Cabbages are shallow-rooted and difficult to cultivate without snapping some of the shallow feeder roots. Mulches work best to keep the weeds out.
Planting Cabbages in Raised Bed Gardens: Cool Weather Crops
For large head cultivars plants should be spaced 400mm apart in rows that are 700mm apart. This equates to about 40 000 to 50 000 plants per hectare. For medium head cultivars plants should be spaced 300mm apart in rows that are 500mm apart. This equates to about 60 000 to 65 000 plants per hectare.
