Allotment Growing

Growing Cabbages - How to Grow Cabbages

The humble cabbage suffers from a bad press due to the over-cooked soggy mess that was served up as cabbage to so many of us in our youth, yet properly cooked it is a delicious vegetable. In the summer, raw grated cabbage adds to the texture and taste of a salad and of course sauerkraut has been a central European staple winter food since before the potato arrived from the new world.

There was a good reason the cabbage was a staple foodstuff, apart from storing well it surprisingly contains nearly twice the vitamin C of an apple or orange and four times that of the potato, making it a very healthy part of our diet.

Raw cabbage contains between 150 and 200 Mg per 100g of vitamin C, 0.50 Mg per 100g of Niacin (Vitamin B3) as well as Vitamin A, thiamine (Vitamin B1), riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5), folic acid and Vitamin K

Cooking will about halve the Vitamin C and Niacin and destroy the other B vitamins but it is still pretty good for you.

Raw cabbage may not sound that appealing but it is becoming a common ingredient in mixed salads and shredded cabbage mixed with other ingredients and mayonnaise is, of course, coleslaw. Don't forget pickled cabbage either, cabbage is truly versatile.

Cultivating Cabbages

The average seed packet contains enough for anything between 40 and 100 plants and the average family would probably get through a dozen cabbages in a year of all varieties. Luckily the seeds will store for up to 5 years. Perhaps you can share or swap excess seeds with someone.

By picking the correct varieties you can arrange to provide fresh cabbage throughout most of the year but avoid the temptation to grow too many. Just 12 cabbages in a year will be more than enough for most families.

Winter cabbages tend to store well, so a few extra can be kept against need. For details on the different types of cabbages and when they need to be sown and harvested please see Types of Cabbage

Apart from Chinese cabbage, cultivation is pretty much the same for all cabbages. The bed needs to be both rich in nutrients and have a high pH. See Creating the Ideal Brassica Bed for basic instruction and the detailed Cabbage Fertilizer Program

If your plot suffers with clubroot then see Coping with Clubroot and the general Brassica Pests and Cabbage Root Fly pages will be useful to all cabbage growers.

Generally they're best started in modules, sow 3 seeds or sow per module and thin down to one. Once the seedlings are large enough pot up into 3" or 5" pots, planting deeply to just under the seed leaves, which will encourage the development of a strong stalk. Don't allow them to become rootbound, if they do then tease the roots out to stop them circling before planting out.

Cabbages will benefit from a dusting of lime in the potting compost. Commercial composts are usually slightly acid and cabbages really like slightly alkali conditions, pH between 7 and 8 is fine.

When ready, plant out at the recommended spacing for the individual variety.

Harvesting Cabbages

Generally you just cut the head from the stalk and remove loose outer leaves where you will often find a slug in hiding. Unless you have clubroot, the stalks and roots will compost. To speed the process, either feed through a chipper or smash with a lump hammer.

You can get a bonus crop with spring and early summer cabbages. Leave the stem and a couple of leaves in place and cut a cross into the stem, about a centimetre deep. Often the plant will produce 4 baby cabbages a month or two later.

Resources

• Growing Cabbages
• Types of Cabbage (Spring, Summer, Winter, Red, Savoy, Chinese Cabbage)
• Cabbage Fertilizer Program
• List of Cabbage Seeds Available from the Allotment Shop
• List of Cabbage Seeds with Award of Garden Merit from the shop
• General Brassica Information
• Brassica Pests & Problems
• Cabbage Root Fly
• Cabbage Recipes
• Fertilizer & Manure Information