Grow Delicious Cabbage in USDA Zone 6

Cabbage is a delicious vegetable that can be used many different ways: fresh in salads and cole slaw, cooked, or even fermented into sauerkraut or kimchi.

Cabbage is a cold-hardy plant and a great choice for gardeners in Zone 6B who want to extend their growing season.

It is susceptible to some problems like insect damage which might make it tricky for beginning gardeners. But with some protective measures, anyone can enjoy cabbage fresh from their garden!

Varieties 

Green 

Tiara

Tiara cabbages are a pretty silver-green color and have a sweet flavor. They are good for fresh eating and cooking. This is a miniature variety, producing heads of cabbage one to two pounds each.

That makes this a good choice for small space gardeners, as Tiara cabbages can be planted close together. I have grown it in a raised bed under cover.

This early-season variety takes 63 days to reach maturity. It’s an F1 hybrid, so seeds saved from this variety will not reliably grow plants like the parent plant. 

Golden Acre

Golden Acre is a great choice for gardeners who like cabbage with a mild bite. The cabbage has a sharp, mildly spicy flavor and crisp texture that is a delicious addition to salads. When cooked, it mellows down to a mild, rich flavor.

This variety produces three to five-pound heads of green cabbage with faint red on their outer leaves. It is an early to mid-season variety that takes 62 days to reach maturity. Open-pollinated.

Promise

Promise plants produce tightly packed heads of pale green-yellow cabbage. This is an excellent choice for gardeners who want to store their heads of cabbage as long as possible throughout winter.

Promise cabbages produce fairly large heads of cabbage, around six pounds each. It is also a disease-resistant variety, so it is a good choice for gardeners who struggle with Fusarium wilt.

A late-season variety, it takes about 96 days for a Promise cabbage to reach maturity. It is an F1 hybrid.

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Red

Mammoth Red Rock

Mammoth Red Rock Not for small gardens! This cabbage earned the name mammoth for a reason - each head of cabbage can grow between five and eight pounds!

This variety has a purple head that fades to a muted green in its outer leaves. It has a sweet, mild flavor and works well in coleslaw. I have also used it in sauerkraut recipes and it looks absolutely beautiful on the plate in winter.

This is a late-season variety and takes 100 days to reach maturity, so it’s likely to be one of the last things you harvest from your garden in early winter. It is an open-pollinated hybrid and can be used for seed saving. 

Primero

Primero is a deep reddish purple cabbage with a sweet, slightly peppery flavor. It produces three-pound heads and is another good choice for small-space gardeners. Primero plants can be planted closely together.

It is a midseason variety that takes 72 days to reach maturity. It is an F1 hybrid, so seeds saved from this variety will not reliably grow plants like the parent plant. 

Planting  

Cabbage are heavy feeders, like full sun, and require a pH range of 6.5-7.5. This is typically more alkaline than many soils in USDA Zone 6B. Make sure you take a soil test and add lime if necessary.

Check out our video below on soil testing.

Cabbages are cold-tolerant, but they do best if you start them indoors and then transplant the seedlings. Start them inside 4-6 weeks before planting them outside.

Harden off young seedlings by introducing them to the outdoors slowly - a couple of hours per day for a week. I like to stagger my cabbage plantings to ensure a long harvest period. 

Check out our planting schedule MY PLANTING SCHEDULE ZONE 6B

Before planting outside, check the growing instructions for your specific variety for spacing requirements. Some compact varieties that develop small heads only need 12 inches between plants while larger varieties might need 18 to 20 inches of space. 

Cabbage plants can also grow well in containers, for people with patio or balcony gardens. Make sure to select a pot at least twelve inches wide and deep. 

When planting transplants outside use row cover to protect them from pests.

I get a lot of questions about self-sufficiency in small spaces. Here's an example of a spring/cool weather raised bed garden. This picture was taken on April 13 a couple of years ago. So this raised bed is 2X12 feet and 10 inches deep. It's filled with compost and bio comp. And has hoops with garden fabric in case we get some chilly weather. It held 3 cabbages, 4 broccoli, 4 Swiss chard, 4 lacitino kale, 2 red Russian kale, 2 arugulas, 3 lettuce, and 6 onions. Because it was a pretty close nit group of plants I did fertilize it every two weeks with fish emulsion.

Caring 

Cabbage likes soil that is moderately rich, so I usually add some compost or manure to the bed in spring before planting.

Splitting

Toward the end of the season, one risk is that cabbage heads will split down the middle, which reduces how long you can store them. Splitting is caused by fast growth which can result after a heavy summer rain.

To avoid this, water regularly and avoid late-season fertilization to reduce the risk of splitting. 

Mulching

You can also surround cabbage plants with mulch to help keep a consistent level of moisture for the plants. Mulch helps reduce soil evaporation, so roots don’t dry out as much between watering.

You should take extra care to mulch and regularly water cabbage plants growing in raised beds or containers, as they can dry out more quickly. 

Problems 

One of the biggest challenges with cabbages is that they are vulnerable to many insects. University of Kentucky Extension lists cutworms, cabbage worms, cabbage looper, and diamondback moth larvae as the top pests that you might see munching on your plants.

One way to prevent pests is to cover cabbage rows with mesh covers that prevent insects from physically getting to the plants. 

My biggest problems in Zone 6B are the cabbage worm and flea beetles.

Cabbage Worms

There are actually several types of cabbage worms which are the caterpillar form of several butterfly species. Yes, sadly those pretty yellow or white butterflies are laying harmful eggs on your plants.

Equally annoying is the cabbage looper which comes from a moth.

Dealing with cabbage caterpillars:

• Use row covers to prevent butterflies and moths from laying eggs

• Handpick the caterpillars

• Use chickens for pest control (monitor closely!)

• Spray plants with organic Bacillus Thuringiensis (B.t.)

Flea Beetles

Flea beetles can be a real problem. They are tiny, move quickly, and have a hard exoskeleton. These make them hard to kill.

Till the soil and give access to chickens and wild birds to eat eggs

Put up Yellow Sticky Traps

Use row covers and make sure edges are tight against the ground

Spray with Neem Oil

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Crop Rotation

Another option is to avoid planting cabbage in the same bed that you have planted other cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, kale, radishes, etc., in the past three years.

Crop rotation also helps to prevent some common diseases that afflict cabbage, like downy mildew and black rot. 

Companion Planting

Companion planting is another good way to help control pest damage in cabbage. One study shows that cabbage interplanted with strong-smelling herbs and flowers like chives, catnip, chamomile, and nasturtiums had less pest damage than cabbage grown by itself. 

West Virginia University Extension recommends that gardeners avoid planting cabbage near dill, strawberries, tomatoes, and pole beans.

However, other kinds of beans can work well with cabbage; they grow tall and provide some shade during hot summer months in Zone 6B. Beans also fix nitrogen into the soil, increasing the availability of nitrogen for cabbage plants. 

Harvesting and Storing 

Harvest cabbages when the heads are still firm and have tightly packed leaves for the best storage. When you are ready to harvest, take a sharp knife and cut the head of the cabbage at the base of the plant.

If your first harvest is ready early to mid-season, you can get a second harvest by leaving the outer leaves and only removing the head.

Wrap your heads of cabbage tightly in plastic and they will store for up to three months in the refrigerator. The crisper is the best location as it retains more moisture than the shelves. However, for space reasons, this only works for a few heads.

Root Cellar

Cabbage needs a cool moist environment with a temperature around 40 degrees Fareinheight. They do well in a root cellar and will last several months if stored properly.

Harvest cabbage and leave roots and outside leaves intact. You can store them on a shelf or place them in a crate wrapped in newspaper.

Seed Saving

You can save cabbage seeds from open-pollinated and heirloom varieties. To save seeds from a plant, don’t harvest the head of cabbage, and let the plant go to flower.

You can encourage your plants to bolt by making a shallow X-shaped cut on top of the head. The plant will shoot up stalks with small yellow flowers that then develop seed pods. 

Cabbage varieties can cross-pollinate with one another and with other members of the brassica family. So, if you allow multiple varieties to flower at the same time in the same area, your seeds will produce plants that are not true to type.

Isolate the cabbage you want to seed from other brassica plants like broccoli and kale by 1,000 feet. When that is not practical, you can also separate your plants using a physical barrier to prevent pollination, like a greenhouse or hoop house. 

Guest Author, Taryn Dawn, first began food gardening with her family when she was four years old and planted a patch of radishes. Now, she and her husband have a food garden on one acre in Virginia, which they have expanded over the last decade to include many vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Taryn has an MSc in Sustainable Food Systems from Green Mountain College and tries to implement sustainable production practices.