Growing Cabbage From Seed

It's hard to have a "Celtic" garden and not grow cabbage! It is a flavor-rich food. We use it in a corned beef and cabbage meal. We add it to stew. We even cover it in aluminum foil, add some butter and Greek seasoning,and grill it! Now you got yourself somethin'! (That's hillbilly for this tastes good!)There are many varieties of cabbage that can be grown from seed. I grow heirloom seeds to help preserve the variety of plants we have available to eat! Imagine how poor a world we would have if we only had one kind of commercial cabbage to eat! My favorite site for heirloom seeds is www.rareseeds.com! Take a look sometime.I have a small plastic container, 9"x13"x4" that I keep full of a good, quality potting soil medium. The trick here is to use sterile potting soil, so nothing inadvertently kills your seeds. I start cabbage 8-10 weeks before I am ready to plant. Typically, cabbage is a spring/fall crop. They are not real found of Ozark summer heat. I shoot to start my outside spring crop around St. Patrick's Day for my growing area. I also have a greenhouse that protects my young plants against any late year frost. (Can go into April in the Ozarks!) The blog connection below can lead you to an article on my greenhouse, if you want more on how to build a small one.Here is the rest:1. plant 1/2 inch deep.2. water throughly. It's the water that will start things.3. After sprouting, just keep water moist and add some light to the plants. I have a grow light. (Old hippy!)4. Feed the seeds 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer every other week til you plant.I still have cabbage in my winter greenhouse. After writing about it, I think I'll have some for supper!