Cabbage is a cultivar of the same plant that grows broccoli, brussels sprouts, and kale. This cool weather plant may not look like the other cultivars in its species, but it’s just as packed with flavor and function. Cabbage take up a lot of space in the garden, but them make up for that space usage with a long shelf life and good preservation options.
Cabbage Details:
- Family: Brassicaceae
- Growing Season: Early Spring or late fall
- Growing Zones: 3 through 10
- Spacing: 12-18 inches (30-46 cm) apart
- Seed to Harvest time: 50 to 60 days
- Indoor Starting: Start indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost
- Earliest Planting: As soon as ground can be worked
- Watering: Water when soil is dry, keeping soil moist, but never wet. Do not over water. Do not allow soil to dry out completely.
- Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
- Planting: Transplant starters after the ground can be worked or plant seeds 1/2 inch deep in early spring once the soil is consistently above 50F
- Weeding: Weed daily where possible. Mulch around plants to prevent new weeds.
- Harvesting: Harvest cabbage once the heads are full and firm.
- Known Pests: Aphids, use soapy water or introduce predatory insects like lady bugs where permissible. Cabbage Worms, remove manually and use row covers to prevent further infestations. Cutworms, remove manually.
- Other Problems: Clubroot is a cabbage disease that can be identified by looking for stunted plants that wilt quickly and have yellowing leaves. The roots of these plants will be swollen and club like, hence the name. Remove affected plants from the garden and dispose of them. Do not compost affected plants as it may spread the disease to future crops.
More About Cabbages
Cabbages are a cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea. This other cultivars of this species include broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, kohlrabi, and kai-lan. These plants are easily crossbred as they are the same species and can produce a wide variety of phenotypes. Cabbage itself comes in many forms which have various shapes, sizes, and colors.
Cabbage Tasting and Food Notes
Cabbage is perhaps the least flavorful of the Brassica oleracea cultivars. It has a mild flavor compared to the other varieties in the species, but still has some distinct notes with a light bitterness and a crisp earthy taste. The flavor becomes more similar to other cultivars of the plant when cooked.
Cabbage itself is a great form of Brassica oleracea as it can be used as an outer casing to wrap foods, an ingredient in stir frys, or as the main part of the dish in items such as coleslaw. Cabbage also keeps quite well in cool temperatures and can be left along for quite awhile in the fridge. If you have more than you can eat at one time it also can be turned into a flavorful powerhouse in the preserved food space: sauerkraut!
Sauerkraut can be used as a base ingredient, topping, or simply a flavoring additive in another dish. We really love the versatility of it here. Even though it develops a stronger flavor than cabbage alone would have, it can keep for a very very long time which makes it ideal for homestead life.
Cabbage may not seem very exciting at face value, but it really does have a lot of uses and it shouldn’t be cast aside as boring just because it’s not amazing unique in flavor.
Should I Grow Cabbage?
If you need something that you can preserve for long periods of time, there are few foods that preserve as well as cabbage. Cabbage can take up more space than many are willing to sacrifice from their garden, but if you have the room to spare they are dead simple to grow. If you already have aphid and cabbage worm problems it can be tempting to avoid cabbage altogether, but you can often introduce predatory insects to do the work for you and avoid most major infestations.
Put simply, cabbage are wonderful, and like with most plants you could grow, if you like them and it suits your climate, you should give them a try!