Cabbage is a delicious and nutritious addition to the home garden. It is not hard to grow, and it comes in many tasty varieties. Cabbage is often tossed into salads, and it is used in many popular main dishes.

Some varieties of cabbage to consider planting are listed at the Garden Paradise website in the article How to Grow Cabbage Successfully. They are listed as follows.

A popular variety of red cabbage that produces a good, compact head is Red Meteor. This cabbage grows well in warm and cool conditions, and it can be harvested in approximately seventy-five days.

Another well-liked variety of red cabbage is Ruby Ball. This variety can be harvested in about seventy-one days, and it thrives in cool and warm climates.

An earlier green variety to consider is the Early Jersey Wakefield. This type of cabbage forms a pointy head that is ready to be picked in approximately sixty-three days.

King Cole is a popular green variety. This type produces large, compact heads that are ready to be picked in about seventy-four days.

Cherrs, which is also a green variety, is ready for picking in approximately seventy-five days. It develops firm, circular heads.

Burpee: Complete Gardener, published by Macmillan in 1995, describes Chinese cabbage as being sweet and mildly flavored. It has wrinkled leaves, and the heads are oval shaped.

When preparing an area to grow cabbage, Burpee: Complete Gardener says to choose a location that receives full sun or a small amount of shade. The soil should be well-draining and mixed with compost or other organic material. The same book advises that cabbage grows best in cool weather, and it should be planted as early as possible in the spring. Check the plant hardiness zone in your particular location for recommended planting dates. Burpee: Complete Gardener suggests starting cabbage seeds indoors approximately six weeks before spring planting. Spring seedlings should be gradually acclimated to outside conditions before transplanting them to the garden, and fall harvested varieties should be planted around the middle of summer, according to the same book. It goes on to say that seedlings should have between twelve and eighteen inches of space between them in rows that are about twenty-four inches apart.

Burpee: Complete Gardener says cabbage requires a little over an inch of water weekly, and it greatly benefits from organic matter or 10-10-10 plant food. It goes on to say that diseases can be avoided by rotating planting locations of vegetables in the cabbage family every two years.

When the cabbage is solid and ready to pick, Burpee: Complete Gardener suggests cutting it off at ground level and removing the loose outer leaves. If you have Chinese cabbage in your garden, it recommends harvesting when it is just under a foot tall. The leaves should be loose at this stage. The same book says fall cabbage can be kept fresh for months when stored in a humid location that maintains a temperature of forty degrees Fahrenheit.

Written by Kimberly Osburn