Brassica oleracea var. capitata
White cabbage, headed cabbage, smooth-headed cabbage, quintal cabbage: this is the quintessential cabbage, the one from which sauerkraut and all traditional country stews are made. Its smooth, tightly packed leaves form a dense head that keeps for months—and its exceptional hardiness, down to -15 °C and below, once made it a winter food-supply lifeline.
Characteristics:
-
Smooth, dense head: tightly packed leaves, white to pale green, very crisp.
-
Very hardy: it withstands -15 °C and lower without protection.
-
Almost year-round cultivation: staggered sowings from February to September, depending on the region.
-
Heritage vegetable: one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in Europe, and one of the easiest.
Sowing advice:
-
Exposure: sunny in the North, partial shade in the South.
-
Soil: deep, moist, rich and slightly alkaline. Add well-rotted manure and mature compost in the autumn before cultivation—the cabbage is a heavy feeder, but does not appreciate fresh organic matter at planting time. Avoid growing it where a brassica has been cultivated during the previous three years, because of clubroot.
-
Method: sow under cover from February onward, then in a nursery from March to June, or from mid-August to September for spring harvests. Sow 1 cm deep. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant at the 5- or 6-leaf stage, spacing plants 50 to 60 cm apart. Bury them up to the first leaves and earth up around the base: the head becomes heavy and the plant may topple.
Care advice:
- Water regularly, as cabbage is sensitive to drought. Mulch generously.
- An insect-proof mesh laid immediately after planting effectively prevents cabbage whites and cabbage root flies, without any treatment.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest when the head feels firm to the touch, as needed. Cut close to the ground, leaving the stem in the soil: it often produces small edible side shoots.
- Hung by the root in a cool, well-ventilated cellar, it keeps throughout the winter.
Beneficial companion plants:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its presence through winter maintains plant cover where the soil would otherwise be bare, protecting the soil and providing shelter for ground beetles and beneficial insects.
- If allowed to flower in its second year, it produces highly nectar-rich yellow clusters, valuable in very early spring.
Uses:
- For sauerkraut, stews, raw cabbage salad, stuffed cabbage or braised cabbage. This is the ultimate cabbage for lacto-fermentation: finely sliced, salted and packed into a jar, it keeps for months and becomes easier to digest.
Saving your own seeds:
As a biennial, it produces seeds in its second year. Leave one plant in the ground over winter, then harvest the brown, dry seed pods. Tip: cut a cross into the head in spring to help the flower stalk emerge. Caution: Brassica oleracea plants cross-pollinate very easily with one another, so isolate your seed plant. See how to save your seeds.
Our Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them without any chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
The cabbage for stews and sauerkraut—indestructible in the kitchen garden.
