Cabbage isn’t the most exciting or glamorous vegetable. But learning how to grow cabbage is pretty easy, and it’s very satisfying when you can pick your own to make healthy and hearty meals. Growing cabbages from seedlings can be an enjoyable experience.

Rows of cabbage seedlings in winter garden growing

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How to grow cabbage from seedlings

Cabbage is a cool season plant but it takes a little planning to get it to thrive in the full cold of winter. Knowing when to plant winter cabbage for a late harvest will ensure that the timing for maturity is during the season. You need to sow seeds directly into your prepared soil bed around midsummer to early autumn.

The seedlings can germinate at a minimum soil temperature of 4˚C making them withstand the frosty winter weather. The cabbage seedlings won’t need frequent irrigation since most of their moisture will be supplied by nature in the form of frost. You may start the seeds in flats indoors or directly sow, it all depends on you.

Although minimum frost can be good for your growing cabbages, understanding your region’s frost-free dates is important for their consistent growth. Always space your seedlings 30 to 60 cm apart, you want them to have room to spread into the leafy plants they are.

Growing cabbages with morning frost in a garden full of veggies

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How and when to harvest your grown cabbages

You can harvest winter cabbages around mid to late winter to provide you with delicious and nutritious homegrown vegetables. The sowing of seeds in mid-autumn comes in handy when you now harvest healthy-grown cabbages in the middle of the cold season.

The compact ball-shaped heads of cabbages are very simple to harvest. The method of how to harvest cabbages is very simple and involves common garden tools, such as a knife or pruning shears. Make sure the tools you are using are clean and sharp.

Cabbages can take between 120 and 180 days to get to maturity from sowing but this depends on the variety you are growing. There are certain indicators to look for that show when a cabbage is ready to be harvested, look and feel the cabbage head. When harvesting make sure the head feels solid and heavy. Harvest the solid head quickly to avoid potential head splits.

Woman harvesting her cabbages wearing boots and a pleated shirt

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The cabbages you’ve grown are undeniably sweeter and crunchier than anything you can buy. Invest in understanding sowing cabbage seeds to experience your own grown cabbage veggies.

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