As the (aspiring) cabbage steward for GtS, I’m starting a thread for the 2025 cabbage projects. Last year, I distributed a diverse mix of cabbage seeds to participants; how are they doing for people? Who has overwintering cabbages, and how are they doing? What are people’s plans for planting this year?
My bed of cabbages are still alive under row cover and a mulch of leaves. I’ve been putting a plastic sheet over the leaf mulch whenever precipitation is forecast, and taking it off during sunny weather. A week ago, I looked underneath and most of the cabbages are still alive, but the next month or so will be challenging. It will warm up enough that I will have to remove the mulch, but we also get repeated cold spells through the beginning of May, which can kill of new growth. Last year, I lost overwintering plants during the spring after they had successfully survived the winter; the repeated freeze-thaw was just too much for them.
I uncovered my cabbage, which had been overwintering under rowcover and leaves, because with the warm weather it was starting to sprout under cover. The problem is going to be getting it through the cold spells we will probably get through April; Colorado’s spring weather is very erratic, going from warm sunny days in the 60s and 70s back to winter-like conditions; March and April tend to get a good bit of snow, and temperatures in April can fall into the low teens or below.
As can be seen in the picture, most of the cabbages I planted last fall made it through the winter, some in better condition than others. Even if a lose some in the next few weeks, it should be a good foundation for a grex.
Wow, this is so cool. I’m still quite new to gardening, especially seed saving and overwintering veggies, and it’s amazing to see how resilient some plants can be. Those are some hardy cabbages.
It sure was great to pull back the cover and find most of them still alive!
One thing I’m a little concerned about is that some of the hadn’t made a head, and none of the had had time to create a really solid head before they stopped growing in the autumn. I hope they were mature enough to go to seed this year.
Here is a picture of an overwintering cabbage in my garden which is starting to put up a seed stock.
This one wasn’t in the earlier picture I posted, because it was the sole survivor from my 2023 cabbage overwintering experiment, while the others were planted in 2024. I had grown a number of different cabbage varieties and buried them in mulch, but they rotted or were eaten by slugs. This one plant came back from a tiny side shoot; it was from a Belarusian Grex that I got from Peace Seedlings. I nicknamed it “lonesome George” after the famous tortoise.
It didn’t flower in 2024, probably due to its weak start, which is just was well, since Brassica oleracea are self-incompatible (they won’t set seeds without pollination from another plant.) Instead, it grew three small heads on fairly long stocks. I gave it and the rest of the cabbages I planted in 2024 much more protection this winter, and it came through in fairly good shape. Now it is getting ready to flower well in advance of the other cabbages; I may keep the flowers pruned off until the other ones are flowering.
