Harvest cabbage at any size after the highest becomes corporate and previous to it splits. Leave two to 4 wrapper leaves around the head to stick it from drying.
- Heading cabbage can also be harvested when the highest is regarding the size of a softball—5 inches (12 cm) or additional during, squeeze it to test firmness.
- Elongated Chinese language language or Napa cabbage is ready for harvest when the highest is 9 to 12 inches (22-30 cm) tall.
- Leafy cabbages—that do not form tight heads—can also be harvested leaf-by-leaf a few month after planting; use the cut-and-come-again method.
When to Harvest Cabbage
- There are dozens of sorts of cabbage. You will need to be informed up on the variety you could be emerging to snatch what to expect. Some types can stay inside the gardens for weeks after they are corporate and solid, others should be harvested in an instant.
- Cabbages make a choice cooler emerging temperatures, between 55°-75°F/13°-24°C.
- Early or spring cabbages mature in 50 to 60 days. Midseason types planted in early spring take 75 to 85 days to achieve whole size. Late-season or storage types need 85 to 200 days to achieve harvest from transplanting.
- In cold winter spaces, cabbage is a spring and fall crop. In warm-winter spaces, cabbage is a winter crop.
- Cabbage heads can resist temperatures down to 20°F (-6°C) but if an important freeze is predicted, you will have to each pull the crop from the garden or give protection to it beneath a layer of straw.
- Cabbage for fall harvest will form just one head on each plant. Set aside the larger and less attackable heads for long winter storage. Use the others inside a month or so.
- Cabbage for spring or summer season harvest can produce two, 3, or 4 heads previous to winter. Harvest winter or spring-planted cabbage when the heads are small—not more than a softball. Whilst you decrease the principle head, decrease as with regards to the highest as you’ll be able to cross away as a large number of the stem as imaginable, and as well as cross away 4 to five of the plant’s lower leaves. From each leaf left on the stem, a smaller, loosehead (regarding the size of a baseball) will broaden. The ones mini-cabbages make tasty salads and will keep for a variety of weeks inside the refrigerator.
Simple how one can Harvest Cabbage
- Headed cabbage can also be decrease from the ground of the plant with a sharp knife when it feels solid and corporate. If the highest feels unfastened and flimsy, let it mature longer. In the event you occur to attenuate the highest and cross away one of the stalks in the back of, smaller heads will form for a 2d harvest.
- You’ll additionally harvest cabbage by means of pulling up the plant roots and all.
- If a cabbage head starts to crack previous to you are prepared to harvest, give the highest a 180° twist at floor level; the twist will destroy off one of the roots and slow the highest’s growth. To slow the growth even further, give the plant each different 90° twist. This may occasionally most probably slow maturation and prolong the harvest of heads you do not need in an instant.
- At the end of the season, you’ll be able to get a soar on next season by means of pulling up cabbage stalks and roots left in the back of after harvest and overwinter them in a trench dug inside the garden and coated with straw or in a container stored in a chilly garage over the winter. In spring, re-plant the roots and stalks as briefly for the reason that soil is workable; the ones crops will produce early spring greens.
Additional pointers at How to Expand Cabbage.
Simple how one can Store Cabbage
- Store cabbage in a cold, rainy place–32°-40°F (0°-4°C) and 95 % relative humidity. Cold and rainy storage is an issue to create. Refrigerators provide the cold, alternatively as well as they dry the air. An alternative choice to refrigerator storage is a root cellar or garden storage mound or pit.
- To store cabbage inside the refrigerator, remove unfastened leaves and clip the cabbage so a temporary stem remains, then wrap the highest in a humid paper towel, and place it in a perforated plastic bag inside the vegetable crisper phase of the refrigerator. You’ll be able to achieve perforated plastic luggage or make your personal by means of punching 20 holes in a plastic bag; use a hole punch or sharp object.
- Cabbage stored inside the refrigerator will keep for three to 4 weeks. Cabbages liberate a stinky smell as they breathe, so it’s not odd to notice a powerful cabbage smell inside the refrigerator through the years.
- To store cabbage in a root cellar, store plant roots, head, and all: place heads in rows on cupboards a variety of inches apart or snatch the cabbage heads down by means of a string from the ceiling or store them on the floor wrapped in numerous layers of newspaper.
- You’ll be able to moreover store cabbage in a garden pit or mound. To create a cabbage storage pit inside the garden, dig a hole 2 or 2½ feet (61-76 cm) deep and line it with a heavy layer of straw for insulation. Store cabbage roots up heads down then cover them with additional straw and a burlap sack or tarp at the best so you’ll be able to get inside the pit as quickly because the snow covers it and the soil is frozen. During the winter when you want a cabbage head, open the storage and take a head then repack with straw and cover.
- Do not wash cabbage or remove outer leaves previous to storing them. Cast heads picked with outside wrapping leaves store the most efficient. Deal with heads with care to forestall bruising.
- Cabbage will keep in long-term cold, rainy storage for 3 to 4 months.
- Check stored cabbages steadily and remove any heads that start to yellow or build up a rotting smell.
Additional pointers: Planting Cabbage.
