[hobhob]

I'm looking at the Cabbage section of this site, eagerly reading up on the harvesting dates for these variants and wondering if they are grown in the UK outdoors or in greenhouses i.e. controlled environments?

There's much reference to supermarkets stocking the produce but I was wondering if they naturally grow or if they are poly-tunnel or greenhouse dependent?


ref: http://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/cabbages/growing-cabbage.php

[Aunt Sally]

Just grown out in the fields hobhob.  Loads of them in East Anglia.

[mumofstig]

They all grow naturally outside.
For an early crop some may be started off in modules in a cold frame for a few weeks, but they don't depend on a greenhouse.
It is quite important, I think, to cover them with fine netting to make sure they are not eaten by the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars though.

[GrannieAnnie]

And this is what they look like in the 'wild'  

This is the view from my study window!

Actually, I'm not sure if they are cabbages or cauliflowers this year, can't see properly from here! 

[hobhob]

Thanks for the replies guys, now I have compiled a list of the cabbages and their harvesting dates, in season of course. I would like to know if any of these dates are wrong, I'm going to have to cross reference them in order to make sure anyway but you guys know about these things I take it:

      Spring Cabbage: Feb-June
      Summer Cabbage: June-Nov
      Winter Cabbage: Nov-Mar
      Savoy Cabbage: Sept-Apr
      Red Cabbage: Sept
      Chinese Cabbage: Sept-Nov


I read East Anglia grow them, but what about Scotland or Ireland, cabbages grow all year in the UK so there's no need for import but at different times I see from above.

Thanks guys.

[Ice]

We might be able to help you more if we knew why you need to know this.

[Snoop]

Another thing you might be interested in is when you sow them, not just when you harvest. If you check out one of the on-line seed companies, you'll find useful info there.

[hobhob]

Well I'm not actually going to plant them, I would like to know though when is the earliest and the latest then can be harvested? Or, are the date I have correct?

[zazen999]

Cabbages can be grown all year round, and harvested every day of the year should you wish it.

[savbo]

We might be able to help you more if we knew why you need to know this.

perhaps hobhob is some kind of veg terrorist planning to wreak havoc on our cabbages...and we're giving them all they need to know...
 

[AndyRVTR]

perhaps hobhob is some kind of veg terrorist planning to wreak havoc on our cabbages...and we're giving them all they need to know...
 

 

[Ice]

I'm confused, (easily done).  Why do you need to know the dates if you aren't going to plant them? 

[GrannieAnnie]

I think that Hobnob wants to know the harvesting dates for all these cabbages, so that when he/she goes into the supermarket to buy some, he/she can try to buy in season British stuff instead of foreign imports???

[Aunt Sally]

They are always labeled with country of origin Grannie 

So why do you want to know hobhob ?  and why just cabbages ?

[hobhob]

GrannieAnnie is correct. Now I know that Cabbages can be grown all year round but like a Relay Race there are several people to get the baton round. So what I was thinking was that varieties which make the known produce appear to be available all year are in fact limited themselves to specific periods of the year, only in unison do they then appear to be available all year round.

So with absolute confidence, can anyone authoritatively say, without any doubt, that any of the cabbages on the list I have can be harvested at any point in the year to give them year round harvesting?


Because I believe that short of taste and appearance the varieties must have been introduced for climatic and seasonal reasons.

Thanks.