When to Harvest Cabbage for the Best Flavors and Yield

Homegrown cabbage is a backyard deal with and planting it in your vegetable beds means you possibly can take pleasure in it at peak high quality and taste. The vigorous crops kind tightly packed heads with layers of crisp, candy leaves which can be scrumptious uncooked, cooked, or fermented. Whereas cabbage is pretty simple to develop it’s necessary to reap the heads on the proper time. In the event you wait too lengthy they will cut up. Harvest too early and also you’ll miss out on the primary crop. Beneath I’ll spotlight how you recognize when to reap cabbage sorts together with inexperienced, Napa, savoy, and even miniature varieties. Hold studying to study extra about timing the cabbage harvest.

Why you’ll want to know when to reap cabbage

It’s necessary to know when to reap this Brassica household crop as cabbage picked too early gained’t have an opportunity to measurement up. In the event you wait too lengthy, you danger the heads splitting and shedding the crop. Splitting is what occurs to mature cabbage heads after a sudden inflow of water. It will possibly occur from deep watering or after a heavy rainfall. Keeping track of your cabbage crops as they method maturity ensures you harvest on the proper time for the very best taste and consuming high quality. Extra on splitting later on this article.

Varieties of cabbage

There may be all kinds of cabbage sorts you possibly can develop, all forming tight heads of overlapping leaves. There’s quite a lot of cabbage shapes together with spherical, flat, barrel-shaped, and even pointy. Cabbages are sometimes grouped into 4 principal classes: inexperienced, purple, Napa, and savoy. 

Inexperienced cabbage – Inexperienced cabbage varieties are essentially the most broadly grown in gardens producing rounded or cone-shaped heads. The leaves are clean and pale inexperienced in colour. This kind is broadly utilized in sauerkraut and coleslaw. 
Crimson cabbage – Crimson cabbages are similar to inexperienced cabbages in measurement, form, taste, and use. They’ve beautiful blue-green leaves with burgundy-purple veins and add daring colour to salads and different dishes. 
Napa cabbage – Additionally referred to as Chinese language cabbage, Napa varieties kind tight, usually barrel-shaped heads with broad white ribs. Their taste differs a bit from the opposite cabbage sorts with Napa cabbages having a light mustardy style. They’re additionally juicy and scrumptious in a stir fry or when used for kimchi. 
Savoy cabbage – Named for its ‘savoyed’, or frilly, leaves savoy cabbage varieties have skinny, vibrant inexperienced foliage with a candy taste and tender texture. 

One of the best time to develop cabbage 

Cabbage is a cool season vegetable associated to broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. The crops develop finest in spring or autumn when the temperatures are between 60 and 70 levels F (16 to 21 levels C). Cabbage seeds might be direct sown open air in early spring for summer time cabbages, or early to mid summer time for a fall crop. Nevertheless, I want to begin cabbage seeds inside underneath my develop lights. It is because I’ve discovered transplanting sturdy, stocky seedlings leads to a sooner and better high quality harvest. 

Cabbage doesn’t want loads of time indoors. Begin the seeds 4 to six weeks earlier than you propose to reap them off and transplant them to the backyard. If rising a spring crop, meaning sowing seeds inside round 8 weeks earlier than your final anticipated spring frost. Cabbage can face up to cool temperatures and light-weight frost so transplant the seedlings outdoors 2 to three weeks earlier than the final frost date. 

For autumn heads, begin cabbage seeds inside in late Could by means of June, transplanting to the backyard 4 to six weeks later. It’s a good suggestion to learn the times to maturity’info listed on the seed packet. This tells you what number of days that selection must go from seed to reap. Miniature sorts like ‘Pixie’, want about 60 days of development. Storage varieties can take 90 or extra days to mature. 

How you can decide when to reap cabbage primarily based on days to maturity

There are just a few clues to look at for whenever you’re making an attempt to find out when to reap cabbage. The primary is whether or not the times to maturity has elapsed. That is the time it takes for a cabbage to go from seed to maturity and it varies from sort to sort and selection to selection. Usually, cabbages want between 60 to 100 days of backyard development. Child cabbage varieties like ‘Pixie’ and ‘Katarina’ are prepared in round 60 days and enormous headed storage cabbages after about 90 to 100 days. 

I develop a mix of cabbages in my backyard usually planting child sorts for an early summer time crop after which lengthy maturing storage sorts for fall harvesting. You’ll discover the times to maturity info listed on the seed packet or within the seed catalog. 

How you can decide when to reap cabbage primarily based on head measurement

The subsequent indication of maturity is cabbage head measurement. Once more, this varies primarily based on the kind and selection you’ve planted. Miniature cabbages are picked once they’re round 4 inches throughout, or in regards to the measurement of a softball. Mid-season cabbages will probably be 5 to eight inches throughout, and storage sorts might be 10 and even 12 inches throughout. Pointed inexperienced cabbages, like ‘Caraflex’, are 4 to five inches throughout on the base and about 8 to 10 inches tall. Napa sort cabbages, which usually have an upright cylinder form are 6 to eight inches large and 10 to 12 inches tall when mature.

A ready-to-pick cabbage may also be agency to the contact with the typical head weighing between one and three kilos. That mentioned, there are varieties which can be smaller and fewer heavy in addition to people who kind big heads weighing over 100 kilos! The mature head measurement and weight for cabbage varieties is usually listed within the seed catalog. 

When to reap child cabbage

Child cabbage varieties are these which can be prepared to choose 50 to 60 days from planting and yield compact, but totally fashioned, heads simply 4 inches in diameter. I really like rising child cabbages in my early spring greenhouse and the late spring vegetable backyard. The backyard crop is able to choose simply because the summer time climate arrives and I can use the area they occupied to plant summer time crops like cucumbers or beans. The pint-sized heads are very tender and the best measurement for one particular person. I begin selecting the child cabbages once they’re 4 inches throughout and really feel agency when gently squeezed.

When to reap Napa cabbage

When figuring out when to reap my Napa cabbages, famed for making kimchi, I take advantage of days to maturity and firmness as my indicators. First, most sorts of Napa cabbage want about 60 to 70 days to go from seed to reap. As soon as that two month time has elapsed, I test the heads typically, and begin to harvest when they’re very agency. Miniature varieties, like ‘Minuet’, are faster to mature and able to choose after about 50 days. Like their big-headed counterparts, they’ll additionally really feel agency when given a lightweight squeeze.

When to reap Savoy cabbage

Savoy cabbage varieties take a bit longer than commonplace inexperienced cabbage to go from seed to reap. Most are prepared to choose between 70 to 100 days, however test your seed packet for particular days to maturity info. Additionally they have a tendency to separate much less typically than inexperienced or purple cabbages and due to this fact maintain their high quality for an extended time period within the backyard. Winter varieties like ‘Winter King’ or ‘Deadon‘, can take 160 days to mature and are harvested in mid-winter. If utilizing head firmness as a information to harvesting cabbage, understand that the skinny, crinkly leaves of savoy varieties means they gained’t be fairly as tight as inexperienced cabbage heads. They’ll nonetheless have a little bit of give when pressed. Because of this I take advantage of days to maturity and head measurement as indicators that it’s time to choose my Savoy cabbages.

How you can harvest cabbage out of your backyard

Cabbage harvesting is fast and simple. Simply take a pointy knife or harvesting knife and punctiliously slice the top from the cabbage plant, slicing by means of the stem. The stem might be powerful, so use warning. There are two spots the place you possibly can lower. The primary is on the base of the cabbage head and above the outer leaves. The second is to chop at floor stage eradicating your complete plant from the backyard.

I normally take away the primary head, leaving the outermost foliage and stem within the backyard to regrow. Sure cabbage can regrow and, with a bit luck, you possibly can take pleasure in a handful of child cabbages just a few weeks later. When you’ve eliminated the primary head, give the plant a dose of a liquid natural fertilizer to advertise the formation of recent smaller heads. After they’re spherical and agency you possibly can harvest them for the kitchen.

How you can retailer cabbage

Retailer cabbage in a plastic bag or container within the fridge. I preserve them within the crisper drawer making an attempt to make use of them up in a couple of week. Cabbage will also be frozen for winter soups and stews. The method is just like freezing kale in that the chopped or shredded leaves are briefly blanched after which frozen.

Cabbage heads might be saved for an prolonged time period in a root cellar. Root cellars create a cool, humid setting and underneath best situations cabbage can stay recent for 4 to six months. 

Extra suggestions for cabbage rising and harvesting

Promote wholesome cabbages and enormous heads with these skilled suggestions:

Choose the best website – Cabbage crops are heavy feeders and develop finest in a sunny spot with fertile, well-draining soil. I amend the mattress earlier than planting with a supply of natural matter like compost or rotted manure in addition to an natural vegetable fertilizer. Offering a supply of vitamins like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, in addition to a impartial soil pH provides the crops a powerful begin. Add a layer of mulch round crops to carry soil moisture and cut back the necessity to weed.
Be careful for bugs and ailments – Though not troublesome to develop, cabbage does have its share of pests and ailments. Widespread cabbage pests embody slugs and snails, imported cabbage worms, and, cabbage loopers. I deter slugs with diatomaceous earth sprinkled across the crops. To forestall caterpillars, lay insect netting or a row cowl over the mattress at planting time. Cut back ailments like black rot and clubroot by rotating crops yearly. 
Stop splitting – As talked about earlier on this article, among the finest causes to choose cabbage on the proper time is that mature heads can cut up. That is most typical when a heavy rain or watering occurs after a interval of dry climate. The sudden inflow of soil moisture causes the top to separate, or crack, open. Keep away from cut up heads with common irrigation and by root pruning. Root pruning reduces the quantity of water the plant can take up, and due to this fact prevents splitting. To root prune, slice although the roots alongside one facet of a mature cabbage plant utilizing a backyard spade. You possibly can nonetheless eat a cut up cabbage however it’s tougher to shred when you want to make coleslaw.

For extra info on rising cabbage household greens, make sure you take a look at these articles:

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