How to Handle Your Cabbage Seeds

Cabbage is a hardy vegetable that grows especially well in fertile soils. There are various shades of green cabbage available, which all depends on the seeds, as well as red or purple types. Head shape varies from the standard round to flattened or pointed. Cabbage seeds develop to have smooth leaves, but some such as the Savoy cabbage types have crinkly textured leaves.

Cabbages and/or cabbage seed packets are easy to grow if you select suitable varieties and practice proper culture and pest control. Cabbage, always regarded as a good source of vitamins and protein, cabbage recently has been shown to have disease-preventive properties.

Red For Cabbage, Green For Cabbage

Green cabbage seed is used more than the red or Savoy types, but red cabbages have become increasingly popular for color in salads and cooked dishes. The Savoy seeds for cabbages varieties are grown for slaw and salads. Varieties of cabbage that mature later usually grow larger heads and are more suitable for making sauerkraut than the early varieties.

Many cabbage varieties are available and two or three varieties with different maturities can provide harvest over a long period. Hardened cabbages are tolerant of frosts and can be planted among the earliest of cool-season garden vegetables. Cabbage is easily transplanted from either bare-root or cell-pack-grown plants. Late cabbage must be started during the heat of mid-summer, but the seed develops its main head during the cooling weather of fall. Cabbage may be transplanted or seeded directly in the garden. In summer, if possible, place seed flats or seed beds where some protection from the sun is available, either natural or artificial. Try especially hard during this season to transplant cabbage on cloudy, overcast or rainy days for minimizing shock from the direct sun of summer.

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