Growing Cabbages

This guide shows you how to sow cabbages in containers or in a raised vegetable bed. It guides you through the months to sow your Spring, Summer and Winter Cabbages.

Savoy Cabbage Cantassa

What Month do I Sow Cabbages?

• Summer Cabbages - Sow January to June in pots in the mini greenhouse or under cloche/fleece in raised beds. Harvest June to September,
• Autumn & Winter Cabbages including Savoy types – Sow June to August direct into your raised bed or in pots. Harvest October to February,
• Spring Cabbages - Sow July and August direct in your raised bed. Harvest April to May,
• All year round cabbages – Sow February to July for harvest June to November or Sow July to August for Harvest throughout Winter months.

Sowing Instructions:

1. Refer to your own seed packet or take these instructions as a guide only.
2. With your trowel or dibber, draw a row or line in the raised bed soil that is no more than 0.5cm or quarter inch deep.
3. Sow thinly so they have enough room to establish.
4. Then keep moist.
5. When the seedlings have two or more leaves thin them to 40cm apart and firm them in the ground with your fingers.
6. Water well until established.
7. If sowing summer cabbages between February and April, cover with a cloche or fleece to prevent frost.

How To Grow Cabbages in Pots in 10 Easy Steps

• iGrowVeg Guide to Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  Summer Cabbage 'Minicole'

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  1. You will need: Compost, dibber, seeds, watering can

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  2. You will also need square or round pots

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  3. Fill the pots to the top with compost, tap down the tray to settle the soil.

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  4. Water the compost well

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  5. Open the seed packet and gently tip out the seeds into your hand, take care as they are tiny seeds.

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  6. Place two or three seeds onto the compost in each pot

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  7. Sprinkle the remaining compost over the seeds.

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  8. Water the seeds and compost well and put in a mini greenhouse

• Sowing Cabbages in Pots

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  9. In 2 - 3 weeks your cabbage seedlings should look like this.

Tips on Growing:

Think about covering the plot with a fine mesh netting to prevent root fly, aphids, caterpillars (cabbage white butterflies) and whitefly pests which could all destroy your crop.

Approx No of Weeks til Harvest:

• Summer Cabbages: 20 – 35 weeks,
• Autumn/Winter Cabbages: 28 – 32 weeks
• Spring Cabbages: 36 weeks.

Pests and Diseases of Cabbages

Click on the following pests for more tips on how to spot them and get rid of them:

• Caterpillars from the Cabbage White Butterflies
• Whitefly
• Slugs

How to Harvest Cabbages:

Pull outer leaves off the stem of the plant or cut head off plant at the base of stem just underneath all the leaves or pull entire plant out of ground can cut stem and roots off plant.

iGrowVeg Quick Links
Find all the blog posts on Cabbages in one place with my Quick Links to Cabbages.

Vegetables to Grow with Cabbage:

• Kale – Sow in Spring. Try the striking purple redbor or the dark green black nero varieties. Hearty leaves for harvest over winter.
• Chard – Sow Spring to Autumn. Bright lights is the most popular, with flashes of pink, yellow and orange stems. The stems and spinach like leaves can be eaten so there’s no waste.
• Kohl Rabi – Sow in Spring to Late Summer. This monstrous looking vegetable tastes like crunchy cabbage.

iGrowVeg Tips and Advice Pages:

Planning Your Vegetable Garden Series

A colourful six part guide to help you plan your own vegetable garden and get sowing! Covers: crop rotation, easy to hard to grow rated vegetables, drawing a plan on paper or online, choosing seeds, putting your plan into action.

Free Resources Page

A Free downloads page of resources to accompany my Planning Your Vegetable Garden Series including plan and seed templates, pdf advice pages, all free for you to download, print and take away for your vegetable garden.

Seeds to Sow Now and Next

What can you sow now in your vegetable garden? View my month by month series which contains details on harvest dates, varieties to choose from and growing tips.

How To Grow Veg Guides

Step by Step instructions and what you will need to start sowing your very first vegetable crops with a handy photo slideshow to show you how to get started and what to expect from your seedlings.

Veg Directory

Find out more about the vegetable varieties that I’m growing, where to buy them, when to sow, harvest, special features and photos or slideshows to help you choose which variety to grow in your vegetable plot.

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