Vegetable · Brassicaceae
Cabbage
Brassica oleracea (Capitata Group)
Offer cabbage steady moisture, rich soil, and cool air, and it thanks you with a heavy, tightly packed head.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
41–77°F · 5–25°C
60–100 days
Overview
Cabbage is a cool-season vegetable raised for the dense head it builds from layer upon layer of wrapped leaves, and it is far kinder to beginners than its reputation suggests. It sits in the brassica family beside broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts, and you will find it as smooth green, deep red, and crinkled savoy. Because it is a biennial grown as an annual, it pours everything into that one head its first year, and you gather it long before the plant ever thinks of flowering.
This is a plant that likes things on the cool side and shrugs off a light frost, which is why it settles in so happily as both a spring and a fall crop. It stays nicely compact, only 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm) tall, so even a snug bed has room for it. What it really wants is rich soil and even water, and you will find most cabbage troubles trace gently back to a slip in one of those two.
Cabbage does ask for a little patience, since a head needs 60 to 100 days to firm up, but the wait is an easy one. It draws a regular crowd of caterpillars and a few stubborn diseases too, yet none of that should worry you. Stay a step ahead, keep the moisture even, and the season closes with solid heads that keep for weeks and only grow sweeter after a fall chill.
Care
The short version: give cabbage full sun and cool air, rich soil kept evenly damp with roughly an inch to an inch and a half of water each week, a feeding when you plant and another a few weeks later, and lift the heads the moment they feel firm.
Light
Cabbage loves full sun, about six hours or more a day, to pack a head tight and dense. It will manage in partial shade and still grow for you, though the head comes in looser and a bit slower, so it is fine to save those shadier corners for warmer spells when a little relief actually helps.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist with around 1 to 1.5 inches of water a week, soaking down at least 6 inches and watering in the morning. Steady, even moisture is the real secret, because once a head firms up, a sudden long drink after a dry stretch is what makes it split.
Soil
Settle cabbage into fertile, well-drained sandy loam worked full of organic matter so it stays moist without turning soggy. Aim for a pH of 6.0 to 7.0, since that slightly acidic to neutral range also quietly helps keep clubroot from taking hold.
Temperature
Cabbage is a cool-season crop that grows best between 41°F and 77°F (5°C to 25°C). A light frost does not bother it, and a fall chill even sweetens the head, but genuine summer heat tends to push it to bolt rather than wrap up tight leaves.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity suits cabbage just fine, so there is no number you need to chase. Good airflow does far more good than any humidity reading, since leaves left crowded and damp are the ones that invite the diseases that spoil a head.
Feeding
Work a balanced fertilizer into the bed at planting, guided by a soil test, then side-dress with nitrogen about 3 to 4 weeks after transplanting to carry the plant through heading. Cabbage is a hungry feeder, and that mid-season boost is what gently fills the head out.
Pruning
Cabbage needs no real pruning, which is one less thing to fret over. Strip away any yellowed, damaged, or pest-chewed outer leaves as they show up, and cut the head with a sharp knife at harvest. Leave the outer leaves on the stalk and you may coax a second crop of small mini-heads as a bonus.
Size & spacing
Plants stay tidy and compact, 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm) tall and 12 to 24 inches (30 to 61 cm) across. Give each one that much elbow room so the heads size up well and air can move through to keep disease at bay.
When to plant
Cabbage runs on cool weather rather than heat, which makes the timing forgiving once you know it. Start seeds indoors in late winter and ease the transplants out a few weeks before the last frost for an early summer harvest, or plant again in mid to late summer for heads that finish in fall, all the sweeter for the cold.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: 6-8 weeks before last spring frost
- Plant: Set hardened transplants out 2-4 weeks before the last spring frost; for a fall crop, transplant in mid-to-late summer about 6-8 weeks before the first fall frost
- Harvest: Harvest when heads are firm and dense, typically early summer for spring plantings and mid-to-late fall for fall plantings; flavor improves after light fall frost
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 2–11
Temperature: down to -46°C
Troubleshooting
Almost every cabbage worry turns up on the leaves or inside the head, and one calm look usually tells you whether a chewing pest, a disease, or a missed watering is behind it. Take heart and match what you see below, then step in early, while the head can still be brought back.
Wilting on warm days, swollen roots, and yellowing leaves
This one is clubroot, a soilborne disease that thrives in sour ground and twists the roots into useless clubs. There is no saving a plant once it has it, so lift the affected ones and destroy them rather than adding them to the compost. Sweeten the bed with lime toward a pH of 6.8 to 7.2, buy clean transplants, and keep brassicas out of that ground for several years.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected plants; do not compost them
- Lime soil toward pH 6.8-7.2 in affected beds
Yellow V-shaped patches spreading inward from the leaf margins
Those yellow wedges with darkened veins are black rot, a bacterial disease that arrives on infected seed and transplants. Pull and destroy any plant showing it, and stay out of the patch while the leaves are wet so you do not carry it down the row. Begin with certified disease-free stock, water at the base, and rotate brassicas on a 2 to 3 year cycle.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected plants
- Avoid working among wet plants to limit spread
Chewed, ragged leaves dotted with dark frass and green caterpillars
The visitors here are cabbage caterpillars, usually the imported cabbageworm, the looper that humps its back as it crawls, or the small diamondback moth larva. Pick them off the moment you spot them and reach for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) while the larvae are still little, moving up to spinosad only if the pressure stays heavy. A floating row cover laid on at transplanting keeps the butterflies and moths off to begin with, which spares you most of the bother.
Fix:
- Handpick caterpillars when first spotted
- Apply Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) consistently while larvae are small
- Use spinosad per label if pressure is heavy
A dense, ripe head that has cracked open
Splitting comes on when a dry spell ends in heavy rain or watering and a dense head drinks faster than its skin can stretch. It is not a disease, so look for it after a downpour on heads that are already firm. Harvest a split head right away and put it to use, and ease the water uptake on the rest by giving each plant a quarter twist or slicing down one side of the root zone with a spade.
Fix:
- Harvest split heads immediately and use promptly
- Twist plants a quarter turn or spade one side of the root zone to slow water uptake on remaining mature heads
Curled, puckered leaves coated in waxy gray-green insects
These are cabbage aphids, gray-green and dusted with a whitish wax, and they cram into leaf undersides and the folds of the head. Knock the colonies loose with a strong jet of water, then follow up with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil worked right into the clusters. Check transplants before they go in, leave room for ladybugs and other helpers, and clear out crop residue once the harvest is done.
Fix:
- Dislodge with a strong spray of water
- Apply insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, ensuring contact with colonies
Toxicity
Cabbage is among the gentlest plants you can keep around a home, so you can relax. It holds no toxins at all, and pets, livestock, and people are welcome to eat it. The one thing worth a glance is how much, since a generous helping of raw brassica can leave any animal a touch gassy.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Cabbage holds nothing that can harm a cat. A nibble of cooked leaf now and then is perfectly harmless, though most cats will simply walk on by.
Dogs None
It is safe to share in small amounts, and some dogs enjoy it. A dog that wolfs down a lot of raw cabbage may turn a little gassy or pass a soft stool, but that is just digestion at work, not poisoning.
Horses Safe
There is no toxic risk here at all. Big helpings of any brassica can leave a horse gassy, so keep cabbage to an occasional treat rather than a daily staple.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can eat cabbage, and the leaves make a fine green for them. Bring it in slowly and in small pieces, since a sudden pile can upset a tender gut.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep graze brassicas without coming to harm. Cabbage and its trimmings are a common feed, best balanced against other forage so it is never the whole diet.
Birds Safe
Chickens and other birds peck happily at a hung cabbage head, and many keepers use one to keep a flock busy on a quiet day. Nothing in it does them any harm.
People Safe
Cabbage is a kitchen staple, good raw, cooked, or fermented, and safe for everyone. Only chronic, very high intake of raw brassicas raises any goitrogen concern at all.
No special handling needed. Large quantities of raw brassicas can cause mild gas in pets and people, and brassicas contain goitrogenic compounds that matter only with chronic, very high intake; this is a dietary note, not poisoning.
Varieties
Cabbage comes in many more forms than the plain green ball most of us first picture, and that is part of the fun. A few are worth knowing for their flavor, their timing, or how patiently they wait in the garden.
Early Jersey Wakefield
Early Jersey Wakefield is a beloved heirloom early type, prized for its pointed, conical head and its sweet, gentle flavor.
Stonehead
Stonehead is an early hybrid that forms very dense, solid round heads, and it resists splitting nicely if you cannot harvest right on time.
Ruby Ball
Ruby Ball is a red cabbage with firm round heads and a slightly peppery taste, and it waits patiently in the garden without losing quality.
Savoy King
Savoy King is a savoy type with deeply crinkled blue-green leaves that soften and turn milder once they are cooked.
Companions
Plant near
dill: Aromatic herb that attracts ladybugs and parasitic wasps that prey on cabbage pests
sage: Aromatic herb traditionally interplanted with cabbage to help deter cabbage moths
mint: Aromatic herb reported to deter cabbage pests; best kept contained due to spreading roots
onion: Onion-family crops grow well alongside cabbage-family crops and may help confuse pests
beet: Compatible root crop that shares cool-season conditions without competing with cabbage heads
Keep apart
strawberry: Companion planting guides list strawberries as incompatible neighbors for cabbage-family crops
tomato: Traditional companion charts advise keeping tomatoes away from cabbage plantings
pole bean: Companion planting guides list pole beans as poor companions for the cabbage family
How to propagate
Cabbage starts from seed, sown indoors for an early crop or a little later for a fall one, and that is all there is to it. No cuttings or cloning to puzzle over here, just a seed packet and a gentle head start under cover.
SeedEasy
Sow indoors 6-8 weeks before the last spring frost, or direct sow/transplant in mid-to-late summer for a fall crop · Germinates in about 4-10 days; transplants are garden-ready in 4-6 weeks
Cabbage grows easily from seed, so this is a comfortable place to begin. Start it indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost, or sow for a fall crop in mid to late summer, and the seed comes up in about 4 to 10 days. The seedlings are ready for the garden in 4 to 6 weeks, but harden them off gently first. Direct-seeded plants skip the transplant shock yet can take up to three weeks longer to mature, so either path works well.
Myths
Frost ruins a cabbage crop, so every head must come in before any cold weather.
Cabbage is a hardy cool-season crop that shrugs off light frost, and a fall chill actually sweetens its flavor, so there is no need to panic. Only a hard freeze damages a mature head, which means you can leave the bed be at the first cold night and rest easy.
When a cabbage head splits, it means something is diseased in the ground.
Splitting is a physical hiccup, not an infection, so do not blame your soil. A firm, ripe head drinks up water fast after uneven watering or heavy rain and bursts its own skin. No pathogen is involved, just the swing from dry to wet.