I’ve grown cabbage from time to time and enjoy seeing the plants transform from tiny little seedlings to giant heads of cabbage. Since I’m the only one who eats cabbage in my family, it isn’t very conducive for me to grow a huge crop of them. If you are interesting in trying your hand at growing cabbage, then here are 5 tips on planting cabbage you might find useful.
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Pests
If possible, rotate the location where you plant cabbages. This will greatly reduce the amount of pests that appear. Common pests found on cabbage plants include; Root Fly, caterpillars, flea beetles, and aphids. Thankfully there are a variety of pesticides available to get rid of all of these pests.
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Weeds
While it’s important to hoe the cabbage bed regularly to keep the weeds down, it’s also crucial to make sure that the soil isn’t loosened. Cabbage plants prefer a firm bed; otherwise they don’t have much to support them as they grow.
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Soil
Cabbages like soil to have a pH between 6.5 and 7. Mixing in some compost and manure never hurts either. Be sure the manure is well dried out and old. Fresh manure can actually burn up cabbage plants in no time at all. If you can plant cabbage in an area where peas or beans were the previous year, then this will be perfect soil.
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Sunshine
Lots of sun is important for a great cabbage crop. Like most plants, cabbage leaves get some nutrients from the sun, but can also benefit from fertilizer. It’s best to fertilize the area where the cabbages will be planted, instead of right on the plants themselves.
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Spacing
Whether you are starting cabbages from seeds indoors or planting them directly outside, they need to be placed about 3 inches apart. This will give the plants plenty of room to spread and produce cabbages effectively. It’s also best to transplant cabbages in the evening so they can recover quicker.
There are a lot of members of veggies included in the same family as cabbage. Unfortunately for some people, if they don’t like cabbage, then they don’t like any of the other family members either. Do you have a certain variety of cabbage that you like to grow best of all? What other tips on planting cabbage do you think other gardeners might benefit from?
Top Photo Credit: Supriya O
