Cabbage Is Not A Dirty Word – It’s Wunderbar

OK, OK, you can stop making that ugly face. Properly prepared, cabbage taste good and is good for you. The secret mama never told you is, Do Not over cook your cabbage. Sliced / diced in slaw or in a fresh garden salad.
Wilt your sliced cabbage in a covered pan with 3 or 4 slices of diced and fried bacon, drain off excess bacon fat. Again I say, Bacon fat is not a dirty word! Don’t over cook your cabbage. It should be wilted but still retaining a bit of it’s crunch. Not soggy or cook into a mush.
Course slice / dice a few cabbage leafs to add to soups and stews.
Use sliced cabbage when making stir fried vegetables.

Of course you can ferment cabbage in a strong salt brine to make sauerkraut I prefer cabbage processed into ‘fresh’ kraut. Soaked for a few hours in a bath of 1/2 salt brine and 1/2 white vinegar. Depending on your taste you may want to rinse the salt and vinegar off of your fresh kraut in cold water, drying well. Serve warm or cold.

Cabbage is a cool weather early spring and does well as a Fall planting. This vegetable that is easy to grow.
For Spring planting I recommend that you buy transplants from a local grower. Fall plantings, I think it’s best to plant seed directly into your garden soil. Cabbage is easy to grow from seed. Plan to plant seedlings out early. 4 weeks before the last expected frost date sow yourcabbage seeds indoors, 1/4 inch deep. Keep seedlings soil slightly damp, Not Wet. When your daytime temperatures reach 50°F and seedlings have three leaves, plant them in your garden. Cabbage germinates in about 5 to 7 days.
Hint Cabbage seed properly stored will remain viable for 5 years.

Cabbage likes full sun but can tolerate light shade. Light shade can be beneficial in warm weather. Cabbage can tolerate light frost. Tender leaves inside the head can be damaged by hard freezes while the outer leaves appear unaffected.

Cabbage prefers a well drained, fertile soil high in organic matter, pH 6.0 to 7.5. It can tolerate slightly alkaline soil. Cabbage is heavy feeder and also needs plentiful, consistent moisture. Fertilize with a good general purpose fertilizer like 13-13-13 or even a 10-5-5 works well.

Cabbage plants have shallow root systems. Avoid cultivation near your plants root zone. Mulch to reduce weeds and to protect it’s roots, and conserve soil moisture.

When cabbage heads are mature, they are prone to splitting in response to a rain following a dry period. Avoid splitting by choosing varieties that resist splitting, spacing plants close together 8 to 12 inches for early varieties, 12 to 16 inches for later varieties.

Early:
Jersey Wakefield
Heads Up
Pacifica
Tastie

Midseason:
Chieftain Savoy
Lennox
Market Prize
Ruby Perfection
Savoy Ace
Savoy King

Late:
Huron

Gonzales produces a small 4 to 6 inch head and is quick to mature in only [about] 65 days. Gonzales is a good choice for gardeners with limited space and for small families.

Cabbage Pest Cabbage Worms And Loopers

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