Growing Cabbage

Brassica sp. : Brassicaceae / the mustard or cabbage family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
      S S S            
        T T T T        

(Best months for growing Cabbage in Australia - tropical regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • Easy to grow. Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 5°C and 18°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 50 - 75 cm apart
  • Harvest in 11-15 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Dwarf (bush) beans, beets, celery, cucumber, onions, marigold, nasturtium, rhubarb, aromatic herbs (sage, dill, chamomile, thyme)
  • Avoid growing close to: Climbing (pole) beans, tomato, peppers (chili, capsicum), eggplant (aubergine), strawberry, mustard, parsnip

Your comments and tips

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08 Mar 18, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
You are temperate climate zone. Plant seeds now or seedlings April-June. Suggestion - plant seedlings if only doing a few at a time. It takes 4-5 weeks to get seeds to good seedling stage. NOT worth the hassle in my opinion. Same with broccoli and lettuce.
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02 Oct 17, rhonda (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hello, I live in Nerriga near Braidwood, New South Wales and have had a failure with my cabbage and cauliflower crops. I grew them in a large igloo covered with cloth (with holes) and our temperature here goes to -7 Centigrade. My cabbages and cauliflowers grew lovely for a while then no hearts in the cabbages and no cauli in the cauliflowers. Only leaves. I gave them sea sol often and watered regularly. Not sure how much water they wanted. They did freeze a few times but went back to normal as the day progressed. Can you help for next time? Thankyou. Kind Regards, Rhonda Richards
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31 Dec 17, Kevin Anderson (Australia - temperate climate)
Hello Rhonda. I have some suggestions: (i) patience (haha), (ii) think about the varieties of cabbages and caulies that might be suitable for your area (meaning choose quick growing varieties), (iii) plan your autumn planting and growing around your first frost and your spring planting around your last frost, (iv) buy a max/min thermometer for use in the poly tunnel, and (v) think about the effectiveness of a "double skin" poly tunnel. By suggestion (iii) above, I mean try to calculate how many weeks/months into autumn and winter you would like to keep growing your brassicas. Ditto for spring plantings. Hope that this helps. Kevin Tasmania
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04 Oct 17, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I live in a totally different climate to you. I'm having trouble growing savoy cabbage - probably planting too late and probably too rich a soil and too much water. I have savoy now, been growing for about 10 weeks or more and lots of leaves and little head. Same happened last year. The year before I had great Savoy. We have had very warm winters - in the last month temps have gone from 6-9 at night and mid 20's in the day to 14-18 at night and high 20's and even records of 34 last week in the day. I would suggest prepare your soil well - compost and fert or whatever you use and then plant the plants - don't fert again. Little plants need regular watering but when they become larger cut the watering back to each second or third day - I will have to remember to take my own advice next year.
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21 Aug 17, Alex Little (Australia - temperate climate)
Why should you avoid growing beans next to cabbages?
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22 Aug 17, Mike (Australia - temperate climate)
Website - sustainable gardening Australia says beans are good neighbors of cabbage. It also says don't grow beans next to beetroot - and I have that happening - all going good so far. Most to do with similar diseases etc. Read up about companion planting. Sometimes it works sometimes not.
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20 May 17, Sandra Sidietigerqueen (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
When would be the right time to grow cabbges. In rockhampton QLD.
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22 May 17, Giovanni (Australia - temperate climate)
June, July and August would be good months to plant cabbage seedlings in your area.
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01 Apr 17, Kathi (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
How well do Wombok cabbage (Chinese cabbage) grow in Sub tropical climate? Any special requirement?
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04 Apr 17, Giovanni (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Chinese cabbage generally likes cooler conditions but can be planted in August and September in sub-tropical climates. Sow the seed directly into the ground and thin or transplant seedlings. Germination is fairly quick .
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I don't know the techie stuff about compost but I thought the greens (N) was only there to break down the brown (C) And you need to combine them with water and air to achieve compost. Once the N has been used up then the process loses the heat in it and it will go to cold compost. I didn't think there was much N in compost so different levels of G and B wouldn't make much difference. Be interesting to have them tested. My garden bed is a continuous bed so all the different plants are mixed up in rows. Low plants - lettuce radish shallots cabbage one end and the high plants - corn tomatoes snow peas the other end.

- Mike L

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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