Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. alba
White cabbage
Common names: Green cabbage
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 50 cm, rows 60 cm
- Lifespan
- Biennial
- Sowing
- Mar–May
- Harvest
- Jul–Nov
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below −8 °C
- Water need
- High
Photo: Rasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
White cabbage is the classic for sauerkraut, stew and coleslaw and delivers firm, storable heads into late autumn. It is a hungry heavy feeder but repays good care with substantial heads that keep for months in a cool cellar.
Care instructions
Plant the young plants from May with generous spacing in deep soil well supplied with compost. Water evenly and deeply, because irregular watering makes the heads split. Lay a fine protective net against cabbage white caterpillars and keep the soil cool and moist with a layer of mulch; a site where no cabbage stood the previous year prevents clubroot.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–May
HarvestJul–Nov
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 5 °C, ideally 20 °C
- Days to sprout
- 4 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, nutrient-rich, moist
White cabbage needs a deep, heavy, humus-rich soil with good water-holding capacity. Loamy soils are ideal, because they carry the heavy heads and deliver moisture evenly. Before planting, loosen the bed deeply and work in plenty of mature compost; keep the pH at 6.5 to 7.5 and lime if the soil is too acidic, since low pH values favour clubroot.
Cabbage crops are heavy feeders and prone to clubroot: keep to a 4-year break from growing and do not follow directly after other brassicas such as radishes or mustard.
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Mar–Jul
In early spring, before planting, work mature compost and horn shavings shallowly into the bed, which covers the basic needs. About 4 to 6 weeks after planting out, and again at the start of head formation, you can feed organically, for example with homemade plant liquid feed. Do not overdo the nitrogen: too much makes the heads soft and more susceptible.
Overwintering
White cabbage does not survive the Central European lowland winter in the bed. From about -5 °C the heads turn mushy and inedible, so harvest them before the first hard frost, with stalk and outer leaves. Store them cool and frost-free (cellar, hung upside down) or in a clamp covered with straw; in spring sow anew or buy young plants.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
White cabbage is propagated in the home garden exclusively by sowing. You set the timing according to the variety group: sow early varieties from mid-February in seed trays or multi-pot trays, summer varieties from mid-March to early April, autumn and winter varieties from mid-April to early May. The optimum germination temperature is around 18 to 20 °C, with germination then taking about 6 to 10 days; it should not be much cooler than around 10 °C during germination. As soon as the first true leaves appear, prick the young plants out into individual pots and place them somewhere cooler (about 14 to 16 °C), so they grow up compact and not too soft. After 4 to 6 weeks of pre-cultivation, when the plants are 10 to 15 cm tall and have formed 4 to 6 strong leaves, plant them in the bed. Depending on the variety, leave a spacing of about 50 × 50 cm to 70 × 70 cm; larger late varieties need more space. Mind the crop rotation: cabbage and other brassicas should only return to the same spot after at least 4 years, because the resting spores of clubroot stay viable in the soil for a very long time (many years). Staggered sowing over several weeks spreads the harvest. On trueness to variety: with open-pollinated (non-hybrid) varieties you can collect your own seed that again gives plants true to variety; with F1 hybrids the characteristics segregate in the next generation, so you buy fresh seed for them every year.
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 PeaBush beanPole beanBroad beanSnow peaWrinkled pea and 36 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 20 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 LavenderBasilBee balmCitronella lemon balmGarden catnipSummer savory and 36 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
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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Varieties
5 varieties‘Braunschweiger’
A robust, seed‑tight storage classic with large, flat‑round heads, cultivated in northern Germany since the 19th century.
‘Dithmarscher Früher’
An early, seed-stable variety from the northern German cabbage region of Dithmarschen, it delivers the first firm heads already in early summer.
‘Filderkraut’
The famous pointed cabbage from the Filder near Stuttgart, a self‑seeding land variety that you harvest until November.
‘Kilaton F1’
A modern F1 hybrid valued above all for its high resistance to clubroot, the root disease that makes many brassica beds in the garden unusable.
‘Türkis F1’
A reliable F1 hybrid that has established itself as a proven variety for sauerkraut and processing.
Notes from real gardens
What other gardeners have written down about this variety, anonymous and voluntary.
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From the magazine
Protecting cabbage from the cabbage white and root fly
Cabbage has two main enemies: the cabbage white, whose caterpillars strip the leaves bare, and the unseen cabbage root fly, whose maggots destroy the roots. Here is how to keep both off without poison, with net, collar and a look under the leaves.
Storing cabbage: keeping white, red and savoy cabbage through winter
Firm storage varieties last until spring if you harvest and store them right. When white and red cabbage go into storage, why savoy stays in the bed, why pointed cabbage has no business in the cellar, and how the surplus becomes sauerkraut.
Keeping old vegetable varieties and farm seed alive
Open-pollinated instead of F1: why seed saved from a hybrid falls apart, how to get clean seed from tomato, bean, squash, cabbage and carrot, how many plants a variety really needs, and what seed law actually allows.
Using the hoe properly: cut weeds off shallow instead of pulling them
Every pull tears a hole in the crumb and gives the next seeds light and room. Hoeing shallow slices the seedlings off and leaves the soil surface alone. Which tool suits when, why you hoe in sunshine, and where mulching is the better answer.