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Growing cabbage
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Earliball cabbages
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Even if you don't like cabbage it can still be a surprisingly useful
vegetable. Whenever I heard the word "cabbage" I used to think borsch
or sauerkraut. Then I realised the potential for bowl after bowl of lovely
coleslaw. Paula has even found some useful recipes which include cabbage.
So now we grow them!
Growing conditions
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Cabbages can be grown all year round in most climates.
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They love sunny well drained beds.
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Cabbages prefer heavily manured soil which has been limed.
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In a 4 bed rotation system cabbages
are grown with other brassicas (broccoli and cauliflower) and beans
and peas.
Garden care
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We've grown both traditional green and purple cabbages. Smaller green
cabbages like Earliball are our taste favourites.
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Seeds can be directly sown where the cabbages will grow, but it's
often easier to sow them in seed raising mix, transplanting them once
they have at least two true leaves.
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Cabbages tend to take up a lot of space so give them 70cm (two and
a half feet) between each other.
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Feed them fortnightly with liquid manure.
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Caterpillars love cabbage leaves so spray every 10-14 days with Bt
(Bacillus Thuringienis var. Kurstaki), a natural bacteria which
just affects pest caterpillars. Don't forget to reapply if it rains.
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Red drum head cabbage
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Harvest time
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It takes around 3 to 4 months before cabbages can be harvested.
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Harvest cabbages by pulling the whole plant out of the soil, then
cut the stem and pull the outer leaves away from the heart.
Last Updated
17 November, 2008
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