Content
- White cabbage - How to draw the healthy winter vegetables yourself
- Prepare and fertilize soils well
- Note crop rotation
- When to plant which varieties?
- Tips & Tricks
White cabbage - How to draw the healthy winter vegetables yourself
Already since the Stone Age, the very vitamin- and mineral-rich white cabbage has been cultivated. The popular vegetables need a lot of care, but reward them with a rich harvest. White cabbage is the perfect base for homemade sauerkraut and hearty stews.
Early article The most important white cabbage varieties Next article Harvest cabbage: When is harvest time?Prepare and fertilize soils well
White cabbage, like almost every cabbage, with the exception of kohlrabi and kale, is quite demanding. The vegetable, also known as white cabbage or cabbage in Southern Germany, thrives best on calcareous, loamy and moist soils. Very good are fields of crops that are on the edge of wet meadows - white cabbage loves it as moist as possible. For this reason, the vegetables should be watered regularly.
Before introducing the young plants into the bed, the soil should be freshly fertilized with rich manure, and it is also advisable to dig up the soil as deeply as possible. White cabbage is a deep root and therefore requires loose soil in the depths. Furthermore, depending on the soil quality, it may make sense to enrich the soil with lime. Acidification of the soil should be prevented by introducing wood ash. White cabbage is rather difficult to cultivate on elevated gardens because the soils are usually too dry here.
Note crop rotation
Like all types of cabbage, cabbage leaves a lot of strain on the soil. Cabbage should never follow cabbage as it leaches heavily on the soil and attracts pests. After that, no cabbage should be grown at least one year on the site, also onion plants, leafy vegetables and radishes and radish are not recommended. For planting cabbage, beds that have previously carried cucumber or beans are ideal. Cabbage, peas, parsley and tomatoes are also promising a good harvest. Furthermore, white cabbage is very well suited for a mixed culture with strawberries, spinach or potatoes.
When to plant which varieties?
Cabbage distinguishes early varieties as well as cabbage and autumn cabbages. The plants are applied to the bed at very different seasons.
1. Spring cabbage
Young plants of the early white cabbage - very popular is the variety "Cape Horn" - can be released from mid-April. They are usually set at a distance of 40 x 50 cm - white cabbage requires as much space as possible in the bed. If the plants are set too tight, pests are easier to find. Within about eight weeks can be harvested for the first time.
2. Summer cabbage
Summer cabbage is planted in the soil at the end of June / beginning of July and can then be harvested at the beginning of autumn.
3. Autumn cabbage
The so-called autumn cabbage comes as a young plant in October from the bed and can also hibernate there. Frost does not harm the cabbage, but the plants should be covered with fir branches from the beginning / middle of November. The harvest takes place in the following spring.
Tips & Tricks
For better harvest results, occasionally pour the cabbage plants with water enriched with guano (the most nutritious pigeon droppings).