Growing Cabbage is pretty easy. I decided to try these smaller cabbages this year instead of the regular large ones. Baby Cabbage Pixie is supposed to make 5-inch heads perfect for one meal. Big ones spoil before I can use them all.
Seed Starting
Start seeds 3-4 weeks before it is time to plant. Use a seed starting mix for best results. Sow two seeds per pot. When the plants have two true leaves, pinch off the stem of the weakest plant. Do not pull it or you will damage the stronger plant.
Light
Cabbage needs full sun to develop properly. Pick an area that gets at least six hours of sun a day.
Soil
If you have sandy loam soil, your cabbage will thrive. For the rest of us, we can add three inches of compost to the soil and till it in well. The compost helps the soil retain water when needed and drain well. The soil pH should be 6-6.5. If it is below 6, you will not get as nice a growing cabbage, so use lime to make the soil more alkaline.
Fertilizer
Get a soil test every 3-5 years so you know what type of fertilizer your garden needs. You can get the bags and instructions from your county Extension agent. If you do not have a soil test to go on, spread 1-2 pounds of a 10-20-10 fertilizer per 30 feet of row. Mix the fertilizer into the first 2-3 inches of soil. Every four weeks after planting, spread about one pound of fertilizer per 30 feet of row.
Raised Row
Make a row to grow your cabbage in by pulling the dirt into a hill 6-8 inches high and 12 inches wide. Leave a space of 36 inches center to center between the rows. This makes sure the soil drains well.
Planting
Plant your transplants 30 inches apart. Cabbage can grow two feet wide if properly fertilized. For the pixie cabbage, space the plants 12 inches apart. Plant 3-4 weeks before your average last frost in the spring, and about 75 days before your average first frost in the fall.
Water
Keep the soil moist but not soggy. The growing cabbage will rot if it is too wet. To tell, pick up a scoop of soil in your hand. Close your hand and re-open it. Soil that is compressed together has just the right moisture. If water squeezes out when you squeeze the soil, it is too wet. Loose dirt when you open your hand means your soil is too dry.
Pests
Cabbages have four main pests. Aphids are 1/8th inch long and congregate under the leaves. They suck the juice out of the cabbage, leaving brown trails behind. They also excrete a sweet liquid called honeydew that makes the leaves sticky and grows sooty mold.
Harlequin Bugs are black and orange or yellow. They are shield-shaped. They also suck the juices out of the leaves.
Cabbage loopers are green caterpillars up to 1 1/2 inches long. They have a light stripe down their backs. They chew on the leaves.
Imported cabbage worms are about 1 1/4 inches long. They are green with three faint gold stripes down their back. These eat the leaves and will bore into the head.
All of these pests can be controlled with pyrethrin. This is an organic pesticide made from chrysanthemums. It will also kill beneficial insects, so use sparingly. The cabbage looper and imported cabbage worm can be killed with BT, a substance from soil microbes that does not hurt anything but caterpillars and is approved for organic use.
Diseases
Cabbage is vulnerable to several diseases. The best way to control these diseases is to rotate crops so that a cole crop is not planted where another one has been for a year. This includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi. Keeping the leaves dry when watering helps keep cabbage healthy, as well.
The soil-borne fungus Pythium species is responsible for damping-off, or the seedlings dying at the soil line and falling over. Control the moisture level of the soil to prevent this.
Downy mildew (Hyloperonospora brassicae) causes a gray mold on the underside of the leaves of mature and seedling cabbage. The upper surface turns yellow or brown. The leaves with this condition die. To prevent this, plant resistant cultivars and keep the leaves dry. Space the plants far enough apart to promote good air circulation.
Alternaria leaf spot (Alternaria brassicicola) causes brown spots on seedling stems and damping off. On older plants, the leaves get a yellow spot with a brown center. The circle gets bigger and kills the leaves. Cabbage is most at risk with heavy dew or water on the leaves, bright sunshine, and temperatures between 60-90F. To prevent, clean up all leaves and plant residue after the season, rotate cole crops so three years pass before planting at that location again, and keep leaves dry.
There are other diseases cabbage can get, but these are the main ones. If your cabbage is sick and you do not know why, take a sample to your Extension agent for diagnosis. Most land grant universities in the United States have a pathology lab that will diagnose the problem for a fee if the Extension agent cannot identify it.
Harvesting
Cut the cabbage head out when it becomes firm. Do not delay harvest past this point or the cabbage will get tough and not taste as good.
Eating
Cabbage can be eaten raw, fermented, or cooked. It should be stored in the refrigerator after harvest until it is processed.
Want to learn to garden? My first attempt at gardening ended up in failure. The weeds took over and squeezed the vegetables out. I was very frustrated by this waste of good seed, time, and money. So I became a master gardener and spent a lot of time helping other people avoid or overcome problems in their garden.
In order to help others garden successfully, I have written a book, Vegetable Gardening from the Ground Up, available in an ebook or a paperback from Amazon. It is also in Kindle Unlimited.
