Cabbage is a cool-season workhorse that produces dense, 3-4 pound heads in just 60-69 days, making it one of the fastest payoffs in the vegetable garden. This hybrid Brassica thrives in spring and fall when temperatures stay mild, struggling only when daytime heat climbs above 80 degrees F. The Capitata Group encompasses multiple types: tight green heads, deep red varieties, and crinkled Savoy cabbage, each with its own character. Hardy enough to tolerate frost and low-maintenance once established, cabbage rewards consistent moisture and rich soil with reliable harvests across zones.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-11
24in H x 24in W
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High
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Cabbage produces those satisfying, tightly packed heads in under 70 days, and it's surprisingly forgiving for a brassica. The dense texture and substantial weight signal a head ready to harvest, whether you're shredding it for slaw, stir-frying, or fermenting. Its low maintenance needs and ability to handle cool-season growing make it a dependable anchor crop for spring and fall gardens, especially when you time plantings to avoid summer heat.
Cabbage excels in both raw and cooked applications. Shred it for slaws and salads where its crisp texture shines, or braise, steam, and stir-fry it for warm dishes. It ferments beautifully into sauerkraut and kimchi, a process that preserves the harvest and deepens its flavor. Whole heads store well, making cabbage a practical choice for meal planning across weeks or months.
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Sow seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before your last spring frost date in containers with moist seed-starting mix. Keep soil at 65-75 degrees F for reliable germination. Under these conditions, seedlings will develop their first true leaves within 7-10 days and be ready for transplanting outdoors when they're 4-6 weeks old and have developed 2-3 sets of true leaves.
Transplant hardened-off seedlings outdoors about 4 weeks before the last spring frost, as cabbage is frost-hardy and thrives in cool weather. Space plants 18 inches apart with 24 inches between rows in a location receiving full sun. For fall crops, count backward from your first fall frost date and start seeds indoors or direct sow outdoors in mid-to-late summer to allow 60-69 days for maturity before frost arrives.
You can direct sow seeds outdoors about 4 weeks before the last spring frost date, pushing seeds into prepared soil and keeping them consistently moist until germination. Thin seedlings to 18-inch spacing once they develop true leaves.
Cabbage is ready to harvest 60-69 days after transplanting. Feel the head: it should be firm and dense when squeezed gently. Cut the head at its base with a sharp knife just above where the lowest leaves attach to the stem. Harvest in the morning when plants are fully hydrated for the crispest texture. You can harvest entire plants or, if outer leaves remain healthy, leave the stem in the ground and allow secondary smaller heads to form from the leaf axils.
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“Cabbage belongs to Brassica oleracea's Capitata Group, a branch of the wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea) that has been selected and developed over centuries for its characteristic dense leaf formation. Unlike its ancestor, which was primarily grown for loose leaves and flowering shoots, the Capitata types were bred to form tight, compact heads suitable for storage, transport, and a wide range of culinary applications. This variety has been adapted globally and is typically grown as an annual in most regions, though it remains biologically biennial. The selection work that produced modern compact cabbage varieties transformed it from a secondary crop into a staple vegetable across Europe, Asia, and North America.”