Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. acuta
Pointed cabbage
Common names: Sweetheart cabbage, Hispi cabbage
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 40 cm, rows 50 cm
- Lifespan
- Biennial
- Sowing
- Mar–May
- Harvest
- Jun–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below −5 °C
- Water need
- High
Photo: Nina Gerlach · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
Pointed cabbage forms loose, conical heads with delicate, mildly sweet leaves that taste noticeably finer than firm white cabbage. It matures early and quickly, making it well suited as the first cabbage of the season, and is popular both raw and cooked.
Care instructions
Plant pre-germinated seedlings from April with a spacing of about a step length into a nutrient-rich bed and keep the soil evenly moist. Protect young plants with a net from cabbage worms and harvest the heads from June promptly once they are firm; overripe heads will burst slightly.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–May
HarvestJun–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 5 °C, ideally 20 °C
- Days to sprout
- 5 to 10 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, moist, nutrient-rich, lime-loving
Pointed cabbage wants a deep, loamy, humus-rich soil that stays evenly moist and holds nutrients well. A chalky soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 is ideal. The higher pH also helps prevent clubroot. On light sandy soils, work in mature compost so that the soil holds water better.
Brassicas are heavy feeders and susceptible to clubroot. Keep a 4-year break from growing them, and do not follow directly on from other brassicas such as radishes or mustard.
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Mar–Jun
Work in mature compost as early as autumn before growing. Shortly before planting out in spring (March/April), add compost again shallowly and mix in horn shavings, which release nitrogen slowly over the whole growing phase. About three to four weeks after planting out, give the plants diluted nettle liquid to cover the needs during heading (May/June). From mid-June, no longer feed with a nitrogen-heavy fertiliser, so that the heads stay firm and keep well.
Overwintering
You grow pointed cabbage as an annual: after harvest, compost the plant remains and sow afresh the following year. It does not survive the lowland winter of Central Europe without protection. Only winter varieties such as ‘Duncan’ or ‘Erstling’ you sow in August, plant out in the bed at the end of September and cover with fleece in harder frost; take the fleece off during the day as soon as severe frosts no longer threaten.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
You propagate pointed cabbage by sowing only. For an early harvest, start sowing indoors or in a greenhouse from February: sow the seeds about 1 to 2 cm deep in seed compost and place the trays in a bright, warm spot at 16 to 20 °C. As soon as the seedlings have 3 to 4 true leaves, prick them out into individual pots and plant them deep enough that the soil reaches up to the seed leaves. From mid-March to April, when hard frost is no longer a threat, the young plants go outdoors about 40 × 40 cm apart. Direct sowing in the bed is possible from April. For a staggered harvest from early summer into autumn, you can sow several batches 3 to 4 weeks apart. Note: many pointed cabbage cultivars are F1 hybrids. Cabbage grown from your own harvested seed then does not come true. For true-to-type growing, you need open-pollinated varieties.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
legume family (Fabaceae)
particularly well establishedLeguminous plants collect nitrogen in the soil, from which Brassicaceae benefit as heavy feeders.
For example Bush beanPole beanBroad beanSnow peaWrinkled peaRunner bean and 35 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
carrot family (Apiaceae)
You can pair celery and dill with all Brassicaceae because they repel the cabbage whitefly with their scent, a proven companion.
For example CarrotCeleriacDillParsleyFlorence fennelCoriander and 21 more species in the catalogue
Source: Bio-Gärtnerei Mixed-culture Practice
mint family (Lamiaceae)
You will notice that the intense scent of basil, thyme, and others confuses the cabbage whitefly and keeps it away from the cabbage family.
For example LavenderThymeBasilRosemarySageHyssop and 43 more species in the catalogue
Source: bio-gardening intercropping practice
nasturtium family (Tropaeolaceae)
Nasturtium serves as a trap plant for you. Aphids and cabbage whiteflies prefer it over the brassicaceae next to it.
For example NasturtiumMashua
Source: Trap plant practice in organic horticulture
Rather not
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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