Grow your own Cabbage

Cabbage is an extremely versatile vegetable that has many uses in summer and winter dishes. In summer, it’s an essential ingredient in coleslaw, while in winter it adds flavour and nourishment to soups and stews. Here’s how to grow this vegetable patch stable:

Step-by-step guide to growing your own cabbage :

• Cabbages grow best in sunny, cool areas of the garden. Prepare the soil beforehand by mixing in plenty of compost and general fertiliser.
• Cabbage seeds can be sowed directly into the garden bed. Draw a straight line in the soil (known as a drill) about 1cm deep and sow the seeds along the length of the drill.
• Cover the seeds lightly with soil and water well.
• After 7 to 12 days, seedlings will appear. Choose the strongest seedlings and thin them out so that they are spaced about 8cm apart. As your cabbages grow, you will need to continue to thin them out until they are spaced about 30cm apart.
• Once your seedlings are well established, give them plenty of water. Cabbages like to be “puddled in”, which basically equates to drenching them in water.
• Harvest your cabbages by cutting the stem close to the ground with a sharp knife. After harvesting, cut a deep X into the stem and it will produce another cluster or smaller heads in a few weeks’ time. Cabbages are best eaten just after harvesting.
• Cabbages are rather prone to pests and diseases. Pick off cabbage caterpillars as soon as you see them, otherwise they will bore right to the centre of your cabbage heads. Slugs and snails also love cabbage seedlings, so protect them by placing plastic collars (cut from a cool drink bottle) around each of your seedlings.

Did you know? Cabbages are rich in vitamin C and they also have cancer-fighting properties as they help to block the growth of cancer cells.

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