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VegetablebrassicaSome care needed

Cabbage

Brassica oleracea

A crop that can be had almost year-round, but only by treating spring, summer, autumn and winter cabbages as four different crops with four different sowing dates. That is the thing most often got wrong: a cabbage sown at the wrong time of year for its type either bolts without hearting or sits through a winter it was never bred for.

Position
Full sun or Partial shade
Water
moderate demand
Drainage
Moisture-retentive
Grows to
30–45 cm × 45–60 cm
Hardiness
H5
Harvest
June to May
Difficulty
Some care needed

Described view

A row of netted cabbages with firm rounded heads surrounded by loose outer leaves

August

Sow outdoors · Plant out · Harvest

Cabbage’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

ActivityJFMAMJJASOND
Sow under coverFebruary. March. April.
Sow outdoorsApril. May. July. August.
Plant outApril. May. June. July. August.
HarvestJanuary. February. March. April. May. June. July. August. September. October. November. December.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

  • Plant out0–16 weeks after your last spring frost
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — planting

    Checked 2026-08-13

Conditions it needs

Light
Full sun, Partial shade
Direct sun
5 hours a day or more
Frost
Very hardySourced guidanceDepends on conditions
Hardiness rating
H5 (RHS)
Grows best at
15–20 °C
Germinates at
7–30 °C
Soil
Loam, Clay, Silt
Soil pH
6.5–7.5
Drainage
Moisture-retentive
Water needs
moderate
Drought
poor tolerance
Waterlogging
moderate tolerance
Heat
moderate tolerance
Wind and exposure
good tolerance
Where these figures come from
LightSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Grow your own: cabbages

Checked 2026-08-13

Direct sunHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence

Applies when: Winter cabbages and savoys stand hard frost; summer cabbages are not bred for it and will not stand a winter.

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Hardiness ratingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Germinates atSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • OSU Extension Service — Oregon State University: Vegetable seed germination temperatures

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilSourced guidancehigh confidence

Firm, fertile, well-consolidated soil.

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Brassicas — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Brassicas — soil pH

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

SoilVerdictWhy
Heavy clayPrefers this soilHeavy clay suits Cabbage as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6.5 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. Clay is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SandyWorks, with one conditionCabbage will crop on sandy, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure.
Chalky and alkalineWorks, with one conditionCabbage will crop on chalky and alkaline, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure.
LoamPrefers this soilLoam suits Cabbage as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6.5 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SiltyPrefers this soilSilty suits Cabbage as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6.5 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. Silt is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acidWorks, with one conditionBrassicas grow perfectly well at this pH in the absence of clubroot. The exception exists because clubroot is far more severe on acid, wet ground, and once it is present in a garden it persists in the soil for up to twenty years — which makes this a pairing where the risk, rather than the growth, is the point.Lime to raise the pH before planting, and raise plants in modules to a good size before setting them out so they are past the most vulnerable stage. Neither eradicates clubroot; both substantially reduce what it does.
Shallow over rockWorks, with one conditionCabbage will crop on shallow over rock, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure.
Made ground and urban soilGrows well hereCabbage grows perfectly well on made ground and urban soil without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height
30–45 cm
Mature spread
45–60 cm
Rooting depth
45 cm
Spacing
30–45 cm apartSourced guidanceDepends on conditions
Row spacing
45–60 cm
Where these figures come from
Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

SpacingSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence

Applies when: Spacing controls head size directly: closer spacing gives more, smaller heads, which is often what a household actually wants.

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

Row spacingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

How far apart to plant cabbageThree cabbage plants drawn in a row at their recorded spacing of 30–45 cm between plants, with a second row 45–60 cm away. The spacing is drawn to scale against a one metre rule; the plants themselves are symbols rather than scale drawings, so the distance between them is the part to read.30–45 cm45–60 cm between rowsone metre
Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume
20 litres or more
Minimum depth
30 cm
Where the container figures come from
Minimum volumeSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Brassicas in containers

Checked 2026-08-13

Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

One plant per pot for hearting kinds. Firm the compost well — cabbages need a firm root run and rock loose in a container, which is what produces a plant that never hearts up.

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

MethodSuitabilityWhat it needs
Open groundWell suited
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages

Checked 2026-08-13

Firm soil; Netting against pigeons and caterpillars
Traditional dug bedWell suited
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Raised bedWell suited
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Firmed soil before planting
PolytunnelWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Brassicas under protection

Checked 2026-08-13

GreenhouseWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Brassicas under protection

Checked 2026-08-13

ContainerWorkable
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Brassicas in containers

Checked 2026-08-13

20 litres per plant; A compact cultivar
HydroponicsMarginal
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

Four to six months in a system to produce one head. Nothing is wrong with the horticulture; the arithmetic of lit space against food is simply worse than for any leafy crop that can be cut repeatedly.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

WindowsillNot suitable
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

  • TransplantingPlant firmly with the lowest leaves at soil level. A loose brassica transplant produces a loose, leafy plant that never hearts.
  • ProtectionNet the crop from planting to harvest. For winter and spring cabbage this means keeping the netting on through the whole winter, when pigeons do the most damage.
  • FeedingGive overwintering spring cabbage a nitrogen feed in early spring as growth restarts, which is what turns a small overwintered plant into a heart by May.
  • WateringWater in well at transplanting and keep the ground moist while the heads are forming. Cabbages that dry out and are then watered heavily split their hearts open, which is not recoverable — cut them and use them rather than waiting.
Where this guidance comes from
TransplantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Brassicas — planting

Checked 2026-08-13

ProtectionSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Brassicas — protection

Checked 2026-08-13

FeedingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Spring cabbage — feeding

Checked 2026-08-13

WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — watering

Checked 2026-08-13

Is it worth putting under cover?

Whether it will grow there is on the methods table above. This is whether the space is well spent, which is a different question and usually the one being asked.

StructureWhat protection is worthWhat decides it
GreenhouseNo real benefit
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

Occupies protected ground for months to produce something that grows perfectly well outdoors. The cost is not the crop, it is everything that could have been there instead.Whitefly and mealy aphid build up on brassicas under cover in a way they do not outdoors, so the crop is often worse as well as more expensive.
PolytunnelNo real benefit
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

Occupies protected ground for months to produce something that grows perfectly well outdoors. The cost is not the crop, it is everything that could have been there instead.

Growing it without soil

Nearly anything can be grown in a soilless system by somebody with enough equipment. The useful question is whether it is worth it, in which technique, and what goes wrong.

Not worth it

It can be made to grow, but a soilless system is the wrong tool — usually because of rooting volume, running cost, or a result no better than a pot of compost.

source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

Four to six months in a system to produce one head. Nothing is wrong with the horticulture; the arithmetic of lit space against food is simply worse than for any leafy crop that can be cut repeatedly.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

Cut-and-come-again brassica leaves are an entirely different proposition and are worth the space. A hearted cabbage is not.

Techniques that suit it

  • Ebb and flowA bed of inert medium floods and drains on a timer. The medium holds moisture between floods, which makes it far more tolerant of interruption than NFT.
  • Drip-fed mediumSolution is dripped into an inert medium around each plant. The most forgiving technique and the one that suits large, long-season, heavy crops.
Horticultural consensusDepends on conditionsmoderate confidence

Applies when: Medium beds only. A head cabbage is far too heavy for channel systems.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Root space
Substantial, and held for the whole season.
pH band
5.5–6.5
Where these figures come from
Root spaceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

pH bandSourced guidancehigh confidence

Outside roughly this band, individual nutrients become unavailable even when they are present in the solution — which is why a crop can starve in a full reservoir.

  • Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic solution management — pH

Checked 2026-08-13

No nutrient recipes here

GrowingHQ records pH bands, which are measurable properties of nutrient availability, and deliberately records no EC or PPM targets and no mixing instructions. Published targets vary by cultivar, growth stage, water source and technique, and the figures that apply to your system are on the product you bought.

Harvesting

Time from sowing or planting: 20–35 weeks
Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence

Applies when: Depends entirely on type: a summer cabbage takes about 20 weeks, a spring cabbage the best part of a year.

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — timing

Checked 2026-08-13

  • When it is readyCut when the head feels solid under gentle pressure. Left too long, heads split — particularly after heavy rain following a dry spell.
  • How to pick itCut the head off, then cut a shallow cross into the top of the remaining stump. Summer and spring cabbages will produce a second crop of small heads from it.
  • Keeping itWinter white and red cabbage keep for months in a cool airy place; savoys are left standing and cut as needed.
Where the harvest guidance comes from
When it is readySourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

How to pick itSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbages — a second crop

Checked 2026-08-13

Keeping itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

What goes wrong

ProblemHow oftenNotes
Cabbage root flycommon
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

The commonest reason a transplant wilts in moist soil and dies in June.
Flea beetlecommon
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Cabbage white caterpillarscommon
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cabbage caterpillars

Checked 2026-08-13

Clubrootoccasional
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Clubroot

Checked 2026-08-13

Slugs and snailscommon
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Aphidsoccasional
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Start from what you can see

Grown with, grown after, grown instead

Every relationship states its mechanism. A pairing nobody can explain is a pairing nobody has checked, and it does not go in.

  • Same rotation groupBroccoli
    The same species in a different cultivar group, sharing every soil-borne brassica problem including clubroot, so they occupy one rotation slot.
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service: Brassica oleracea cultivar groups

    Checked 2026-08-13

  • Same rotation groupRadish
    Radish is also a brassica and hosts clubroot, so slipping a quick radish crop into a brassica bed 'because it is only there a month' maintains the disease.
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Crop rotation

    Checked 2026-08-13

  • Follows on fromPotato
    Brassicas traditionally follow potatoes, which leave the ground dug over and largely weed-free — convenient for a crop planted out as transplants and then firmed.
    source

    Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Crop rotation

    Checked 2026-08-13

Sources for this page

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board · GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · OSU Extension Service · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-13.

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