Cabbage is not a big favorite for meals at my house. Brussels sprouts, broccoli and spinach are much preferred. So the Savoy cabbage remained a pretty picture in the seed catalog.
Regular cabbage is a fairly smooth ball of ribbed, green leaves. It likes colder weather and will take frost. Hot weather makes it turn bitter. I put in a few plants in the spring, but mostly put them in for a fall crop.
Temptation
The regular cabbage came as transplants appearing the first of April or thereabouts. There were four plants in a pack.
Savoy cabbage was not available as transplants. In fact, most people in my area have never heard of it.
Every year I thumbed past the cabbage seed offers and stopped to admire the crinkled leaves in this picture. This year I ordered a packet just because.
Seed Starting Headaches
Usually I only start seeds for tomatoes and peppers and similar summer crops. These go into pots about the middle of March.
Cabbage likes cold weather. It needs to be in the ground in March. That means starting the seeds in January.
January seedlings, like all seedlings, need light. A warm sunny porch will not be available. I bought a grow light.
Two trays of cabbage and leek seedlings meant one tray under in the morning for the day. The other tray went under in the evening for the night shift.
Garden Headaches
The Savoy cabbage made it into the garden in early March. Of course winter moved right back in. The blankets came out for killing frost nights.
Now the cabbage moths have arrived. I’ve been busy doing other big projects and neglected to get these little transplants under mesh. Now I’m playing catch up once again.
At least, now that spring is officially here, winter visits are shorter and not as bad. The mesh is over the plants. Maybe I will get a few heads of Savoy cabbage from my dozen plants.
