Greetings from Southern Wisconsin

dcfox

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Hi. My name is David. I am in Zone 5b in Southern Wisconsin. I have been gardening for most of my life, but have started to get more intentional about producing more food for my family in the last few years. This year I am focused on improving my cabbage growing skills....sadly, I'm not off to a great start! Any tips would be appreciated! ;)

I'm also expanding my garden to include several varieties of dent corn, sorghum and pole beans this year.
 

Alasgun

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Welcome; from Alaska. We’re kinda like a big top Circus with little side shows everywhere you look. Hope some of them are appealing to you?
 

Branching Out

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A warm welcome from British Columbian! I have yet to be successful with cabbage, so unfortunately I have no advice to offer you. However, one of the cabbage plants that I over-wintered is still alive, and I hope that I will be able to save seed from it. Fresh seed might make growing cabbage easier going forward.
 

flowerbug

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welcome to TEG from mid-Michigan. :) we probably have similar day lengths but there is a good chance your winters are a bit more cold and raw than what we get.

we tried cabbage here once and i did not sprout the plants because we don't really have any room in the house for that kind of effort. our local favorite greenhouse supplied the cabbage starts. and then i grew them and spent many hours picking off cabbage worms and in the end decided that i will buy cabbage from the store when i want some. it would have helped to keep it netted to keep the cabbage worms away but i really don't want to mess with nets and cages.

the wasps and hornets were trying to help out and do their thing to get the eggs and worms from the plants but they did not get all of them.

there are a lot of very dedicated bean growers here. :)
 

Dahlia

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Hi. My name is David. I am in Zone 5b in Southern Wisconsin. I have been gardening for most of my life, but have started to get more intentional about producing more food for my family in the last few years. This year I am focused on improving my cabbage growing skills....sadly, I'm not off to a great start! Any tips would be appreciated! ;)

I'm also expanding my garden to include several varieties of dent corn, sorghum and pole beans this year.
Welcome to the forum from the Pacific Northwest!
 

digitS'

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cabbage growing
Welcome David. @Zeedman is in your neighborhood somewhat. He may have some ideas for you.

We are growing Tiara cabbage again this year. DW has great appreciation for those small plants.

Earliness helps. There are fewer things that can go wrong, if the weeks are few. Additionally, probably all brassicas struggle with hot, dry weather. Frequent watering helps.

The advantage Tiara has is that it is both early and late. When the heads are ready, harvest. But, leave the plants in the ground. Come back in a couple of weeks and remove some of the buds that will be growing – limiting the plants to 3 or 4 each. Those should develop late and have nearly the same uses as the earlier, larger heads. It's a good salad cabbage and those lateral heads are considerably larger than Brussels sprouts. Which are not a personal favorite ;).

Main crop cabbage. Late Flat Dutch was a consistent choice for years.

Steve
 

dcfox

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Welcome David. @Zeedman is in your neighborhood somewhat. He may have some ideas for you.

We are growing Tiara cabbage again this year. DW has great appreciation for those small plants.

Earliness helps. There are fewer things that can go wrong, if the weeks are few. Additionally, probably all brassicas struggle with hot, dry weather. Frequent watering helps.

The advantage Tiara has is that it is both early and late. When the heads are ready, harvest. But, leave the plants in the ground. Come back in a couple of weeks and remove some of the buds that will be growing – limiting the plants to 3 or 4 each. Those should develop late and have nearly the same uses as the earlier, larger heads. It's a good salad cabbage and those lateral heads are considerably larger than Brussels sprouts. Which are not a personal favorite ;).

Main crop cabbage. Late Flat Dutch was a consistent choice for years.

Steve
Thanks for the info. I had not heard of Tiara cabbage. I’ll check it out.
 

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