How to grow Cabbage (Winter)
in the UK

Winter cabbage, now this is a proper workhorse for the allotment, isn't it? It keeps you eating fresh greens right through the coldest months, when not much else is happening out there. It's a brassica, like all its cousins, and it's generally a medium difficulty crop, but the rewards are well worth the effort, believe you me.

Sowing

Right, for your winter cabbage, you'll be wanting to sow your seeds in April or May. You can start them off in modules in the cold frame or on the windowsill, just popping a couple of seeds into each one, about 1.5 cm deep. Once they've germinated, thin to the strongest seedling. Or, if you've got the space and a bit of protection, you can sow them direct into a seedbed outside. The main thing is to make sure that soil is good and firm before you sow, like I say, brassicas love a firm seedbed to get a good start.

Growing on

Once your seedlings are big enough, with a few true leaves, you'll want to prick them out if they're too close or pot them on into bigger modules. Get them hardened off gradually, you know, a week or two outside during the day, back in at night. Then, when they're sturdy little plants, usually late May or June up here in the North East, you can plant them out on the plot. Give them a good 45-60 cm between plants, and make sure that ground is properly firmed down around their roots.

Looking after it

Cabbage needs a steady supply of water, especially as the heads start to form, so keep an eye on them if it's dry. Give them a good feed when you plant them out, maybe some well-rotted compost or a balanced fertiliser. Thinking about companion plants, pop some onions or celery nearby, apparently they help keep some of the pests away. A good mulch can help keep moisture in and weeds down too, which is always a bonus on the plot.

What goes wrong

The biggest bother for cabbage, to be honest, has to be the cabbage white butterfly; those caterpillars can decimate a crop in no time. You'll definitely want to net your plants against them, and the birds too, they love a good peck. Club root can be a real headache, especially if you've grown brassicas in the same spot before, so rotate your crops and look for resistant varieties if you've had trouble. Slugs can be a pain when they're small, mind.

Harvest

You'll be harvesting these beauties from November, right through December, January, February, and even into March, which is cracking for winter veg. It takes about 180 days from sowing to harvest, so it's a long game. When the heads are firm and a good size, you can cut them at ground level. Some varieties will stand in the ground for ages, or you can cut them and store them in a cool, dark place, like the shed or garage.