Sowing

Sow thinly indoors or in a hotbed, about 1cm deep, 4-6 weeks before setting out the plants as planned! The seeds want warmth when germinating, preferably just above 20°C. After sprouting they should be in a light, cool and airy place to avoid lankiness and attacks by root-neck rot but not lower than 14°C for any length of time. Low temperature increases the risk of bolters a lot. Temper the plants gradually before setting them, when the risk of frost is just about over. Most kinds of cabbage can handle a night of light frost. Set out the seedlings a little deeper and tread down the soil preventing the cabbage flies laying their eggs. Many early sorts can be sown directly as soon as the soil has warmed up. Do not allow the sowing to dry out and look out for the flea-beetles.

Spacing

Keep a mutual distance of 5 cm when growing seedlings. 30-50 cm between the plants and 50-70 cm between the rows. The shorter distance is for less vigorously growing sorts and the longer ones for the vigorous autumn- and winter-sorts. A too dense planting easily yields small and under-developed heads and a too wide one large, loose heads with bad keeping qualities.  

Harvest

Summer and winter cabbages should be harvested successively. If they are allowed to remain in the plot for too long they soon crack. The ripening can be delayed by gripping the plant firmly and turning it one quarter turn or by cutting off some of the roots with a spade when the head is just about ready for harvest. The winter cabbage should be harvested relatively late. They can take several degrees of frost but must thaw out completely before harvest. Normally, the head is cut off with a sharp knife together with a few leaves for protection. Wrapping the heads in newspapers prolongs storage time by avoiding the direct contact of the heads with each other and another way is to dig up the whole plants with their roots and clean them and trim off some of the leaves and hang them in a cellar roots up.  Treat the heads of cabbage carefully! A really small bump can cause attacks by fungi later on during storage and diminish their keeping qualities. Keep the white cabbages in a cool place (close to 0°C) with high humidity but still as airy as possible.

Seed

250-350 seeds/about 1g. About 8 g are needed for 1000 seedlings which is also enough when scattering the seeds in a hotbed of at least 1 m2. 4 g sows 100 m directly.
A portion contains about 300 seeds.