Cabbage is a flexible vegetable that may be grown virtually anyplace and is valued for its distinctive storage life and hardiness. Whereas it will possibly appear difficult for learners, it’s simpler than you may assume with the precise suggestions. Earlier than I began gardening, I didn’t use cabbage a lot. However now, I like having my very own homegrown, natural cabbage. It’s nutritious, shops nicely within the fridge, and rising it’s easy with these useful pointers. Let’s dive into these ten easy tricks to get you in your strategy to a profitable cabbage harvest.
Article Index:
Plant cabbage on the proper time
Attempt rising various kinds of cabbage
Develop cabbage in one of the best location
Optimizing Area When Planting Cabbage
Plant vigorous wholesome seedlings for one of the best cabbage
Discover ways to forestall and deal with cabbage pests and ailments
Present even watering for cabbage
Don’t let cabbage go hungry
Harvest cabbage on the proper time
Retailer and use your homegrown cabbage
1. Plant cabbage on the proper time
An necessary factor to recollect is cabbage likes cool temperatures. Cabbage won’t kind a head however break up or bolt if uncovered to an excessive amount of warmth or extreme frost.
In chilly winter areas, cabbage is a spring and fall crop. Sow cabbage seeds indoors 8 weeks earlier than the final spring frost for a spring crop and 14 weeks earlier than the primary fall frost for a fall crop. Seeds sprout in 4 to 10 days, and so they last as long as 4 years. Cabbage seeds can be found on-line at Seedsnow.com.
In areas with delicate winters, just like the low desert of Arizona, cabbage grows finest in the course of the winter season. Within the low desert of Arizona:
Begin seeds indoors: August – December
Plant seeds outdoors: September 15 (or when nighttime temps start to chill off) – November
Plant transplants outdoors: September 15 (or when nighttime temps start to chill off)- January
2. Attempt rising various kinds of cabbage
If heat temperatures could make rising traditional-headed cabbage tough strive Oriental and Savoy cabbage varieties. These sorts are sometimes extra constant producers when grown in heat climates just like the low desert of Arizona.
Head cabbage has inexperienced or purple leaves and kinds a decent rounded head. Early and mid-season varieties are smaller and sooner rising. Late or long-season varieties are bigger and retailer nicely. Varieties to strive: Early Jersey Wakefield, Emerald Cross, Crimson Acre, Mammoth Crimson, and Stonehead.
Savoy cabbage has lengthy crinkled leaves that kind a looser head than different varieties. Additionally it is milder and sweeter than customary cabbage with a extra delicate texture.
Oriental cabbage grows into an rectangular form. Varieties embody Napa, Bok Choy, and Tatsoi.
Planting dates for Bok Choy for the low desert of Arizona are:
Begin seeds indoors: August 15 – January
Plant seeds outdoors: August 15 – January
Plant transplants outdoors: October – February
3. Develop cabbage in one of the best location
Cabbage prefers well-draining, wealthy soil. Amend the soil with compost and a balanced natural fertilizer earlier than planting.
Select an space with full solar. Though cabbage prefers cooler temperatures, it requires loads of sunshine to develop nicely.
4. Optimizing Area When Planting Cabbage
Cabbage vegetation can develop fairly huge and should forged shade on close by crops. In square-foot gardening, a single cabbage plant can take up as many as 4 squares due to its dimension. To benefit from your backyard area, strive planting cabbage alongside the perimeters or within the corners of your backyard beds. This permits the leaves to increase over the edges, liberating up room for different vegetation inside the mattress.
For those who’re utilizing square-foot gardening, you possibly can plant one cabbage per one to 2 squares to save lots of area. In any other case, area your cabbage vegetation 18–24 inches (45–60 cm) aside, relying on the range. To maximise area even additional, think about planting fast-growing crops like radishes subsequent to your cabbage. After you harvest the radishes, the cabbage may have extra room to develop into the area they occupied.
5. Plant vigorous wholesome seedlings for one of the best cabbage
Give cabbage an excellent begin in life – select small and tight transplants and keep away from leggy or overgrown transplants. Don’t let transplants dry out or turn out to be pot-bound. Seedlings planted too late could not kind heads and should bolt and flower as an alternative. When planting, bury the stem as much as just under the primary set of leaves.
6. Discover ways to forestall and deal with cabbage pests and ailments
Cabbage appears to be a magnet for some widespread pests and ailments. Bugs similar to cabbage worms, cutworms, snails, and slugs can break younger cabbage leaves. Aphids are an indication of water or warmth stress. Utilizing a mixture of strategies works nicely to stop and deal with pests.
Plant onions, radishes, and nasturtiums close to cabbage to assist deter pests. I like planting I’itoi onions round all my cabbage vegetation.
Use row covers whereas vegetation are younger.
To guard towards cutworms, place a protecting collar round younger vegetation. Strips of newspaper can be utilized for this.
Handpick caterpillars every morning and night time.
Spray cabbage contaminated with caterpillars with Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis – I take advantage of this kind from Amazon).
Spray aphids with water or deal with with insecticidal cleaning soap.
To stop the build-up of soil-borne ailments, rotate the place you plant cabbage every year. Wait 3 years earlier than planting cabbage in the identical spot. Take away and destroy affected vegetation. To stop illness, take away your complete plant after harvesting relatively than leaving the roots within the floor.
7. Present even watering for cabbage
Cabbage requires common, even watering. Uneven watering can lead to stunted, break up, or cracked heads. Heavy mulch will assist maintain the soil cool and retain moisture.
8. Don’t let cabbage go hungry
Cabbage vegetation expend soil vitamins shortly, so that they want common feeding to develop nicely. Begin by giving younger vegetation a fish emulsion and seaweed resolution about two weeks after planting. Then, proceed to feed them as soon as a month all through the rising season. This constant feeding helps your cabbage kind wholesome heads. I like to recommend utilizing this natural fertilizer that works nice for me.
9. Harvest cabbage on the proper time
It’s necessary to reap your cabbage on the proper time. For those who wait too lengthy, the heads can break up or crack open. This occurs as a result of absolutely grown cabbages proceed to soak up water, which builds up inner stress. When the stress turns into an excessive amount of, the heads break up. To keep away from this, examine your cabbage usually because it nears maturity. When the heads are agency and attain the anticipated dimension for his or her selection, it’s time to reap. This fashion, you’ll get pleasure from one of the best taste and stop any splitting.
Cabbage tolerates gentle freezes – the flavour improves with chilly climate. However for one of the best taste, harvest cabbage earlier than temperatures warmth up, even when it has not reached full dimension.
Cabbage is able to harvest in about 80 to 180 days when grown from seed and in roughly 65 to 105 days if grown from transplants (relying upon the range).
Harvest head cabbage when heads are well-formed and agency. Harvest head cabbage by reducing the bottom with a pointy knife.
Start harvesting leaf cabbage a couple of month after planting by harvesting the outer leaves utilizing the cut-and-come-again technique. To do that, harvest solely the older outer leaves and permit the middle of the plant to ship out new leaves. Study extra in regards to the cut-and-come-again technique on this information.
10. Retailer and use your homegrown cabbage
To retailer cabbage, take away unfastened leaves, wrap them in a moist paper towel, and retailer them in a plastic vegetable bag. Cabbage saved on this method will final 1-2 months (or extra!) within the fridge. Use cabbage in slaw, roasted, kimchi, soup, cabbage rolls, stir-fries, and extra. Protect cabbage by fermenting, and make sauerkraut.
