How to Grow Cabbage From Seed

Cabbage is a cool-season crop that grows best at the mild ends of the year, and the whole family follows the same rhythm whether you plant green, red, or crinkled savoy types. For a spring crop, start seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before your last frost and transplant a couple of weeks before that frost, since young cabbage takes light frost in stride. For a fall crop, which often gives the sweetest heads, sow in mid to late summer so the cabbages mature as the weather cools. Choose early, compact varieties (roughly 55 to 65 days) when you want a fast, small-space crop, and midseason or long-storage types (up to about 100 days) when you want big heads to keep through winter.

Sow cabbage seeds a quarter inch deep in cell trays of moist seed-starting mix, two seeds per cell, and keep them around 70 to 75F. Seedlings appear in 5 to 10 days; thin to the strongest. Harden them off, then transplant into rich, firm soil in full sun. Space plants by type: compact early cabbages go 12 to 18 inches apart, while large midseason and storage types want 18 to 24 inches, with rows 24 to 36 inches apart. Firm the soil around each plant and water in well. In mild climates you can also direct-sow and thin.

Cabbage wants steady moisture and steady feeding across every type. Give it about 1.5 inches of water a week and a nitrogen-rich feed early on to build big frame leaves, then let each plant form its head. Even watering matters: a sudden soaking of a mature head makes it split, and this is more of a risk with tight-heading early types than with slow storage varieties. Watch for cabbage worms, loopers, and aphids, and use row cover or hand-picking. In hot regions like the South, grow cabbage in fall and winter, since summer heat makes plants bolt; in the North, both spring and fall crops do well, and light frost actually sweetens the heads.

Cabbage grows well next to plants that pull pests away and bring in helpful insects. These four make especially good neighbors in a brassica bed, and you can add any of them in one click:

Cut cabbage when the head feels firm and solid when you squeeze it, slicing through the stem at the base and leaving the outer wrapper leaves in the garden. Early types are ready sooner and should be cut promptly so they do not split, while dense storage varieties can hold longer in the field and cure for winter keeping. If you leave the rooted stump and its lower leaves, many plants form a cluster of small secondary heads for a second, smaller cutting.

Cabbage is endlessly useful, and each type brings something different to the kitchen. Shred tender green or crisp red heads raw for coleslaw and tacos, saute or braise wedges, drop them into soups and stir-fries, or ferment them into sauerkraut and kimchi. Savoy types, with their crinkled leaves, are prized for wraps and slow-cooked dishes, and red cabbage adds color to any plate. A firm head stores for weeks in the fridge, and dense storage varieties keep for months, so one harvest feeds many meals.

• Splitting heads: from uneven watering or leaving mature heads too long, most common in fast early types. Water evenly, harvest promptly, or root-prune with a quarter turn.
• Cabbage worms: green caterpillars from white moths. Use row cover, pick them off, and plant nasturtium and marigold nearby.
• Bolting: heat makes cabbage flower instead of heading. Time the crop for cool weather and favor a fall planting in warm regions.
• Clubroot: swollen, distorted roots in acidic soil. Rotate brassicas to a new bed each year and lime the soil to raise the pH.