Jul
09
Last winter was my first time growing cabbage, and I am not sure I really got it right. Most of my plants were destroyed in a particularly brutal soil-ravaging by the local gang of skunks. (Or at least that's who I've decided to pin the crime on. It could have been raccoons.) One hardy purple cabbage survived. It's been slowly and steadily growing over the past five--yes, five!--months.Cabbage on February 15
Cabbage on March 7
Cabbage on May 4
Cabbage on May 31
Cabbage on July 3
So, as you can see, my cabbage has been growing very, very slowly and still has only formed a rather puny head. At this point, I'm thinking of just harvesting the damn thing. It's taking up a valuable sunny spot in my upper bed, and, at this rate, it won't have a sizable head until Christmas.
Odds are, the cabbage head won't even be that tasty since hot weather apparently makes cabbage bitter. But, I plan to eat it no matter what. I put in all this time growing it, after all.
I'm not sure if I'll grow cabbage in my next winter garden. They're pretty, but they take up a lot of space. If I do grow them, I plan to research exactly how to make them happy. Five months for one tiny head of cabbage is not an experience I want to repeat.
Well the color sure is wonderful so you have PLENTY OF TIME to enjoy it if it is slow! :-)
ENJOY the summer - love your blog!
I grew cabbage for the first time ever this year. Up here in the Central Coast area, it gets hot in summer, so I grew it as a Spring crop. I got four nice big heads, which I harvested just last week. I think they were in the ground 3 months (?). I was surprised at how much space they took up. I was judging by the size of a head of cabbage from the store, and these, with the outer leaves, were HUGE.
P.S. Three months was in MY garden. I bought them as a 4-pack, so not from seed.
Last year it took my cabbage until late summer/early autumn to fully mature. So if our cabbages are anything alike, hang in there.