QUESTION : How do I know when my cabbage is ready to reap ? Is there a way to determine if they are ready ? Is it more tender if the bread heads are pocket-size ? -Shannon W

response : It is extra significant to harvest sugar at the right fourth dimension , as wampum principal that are harvested too soon or too late do not have as much nutritional value as those glean at the appropriate clip in the industrial plant ’s outgrowth cycle . Some varieties of moolah have a very narrow window of prison term in which they need to be harvest , with just a few days in which the optimum harvest home time can be met . Other varieties can go several weeks in the garden without beginning to deteriorate as long as the weather allows them . A oecumenical convention that apply to most varieties is the larger the head , the longer they will have up while waiting for harvest .

The right time to harvest your cabbage plants will depend on the diversity of lucre that you planted , the weather conditions that they grow in and when the heads naturally mature . The size of the heads will not secern you whether they are ripe for picking or not , as cabbage mind sizes vary greatly from one to the next . The resolution of the head , alternatively , is what will indicate that your cabbage plants are ready to glean .

harvesting cabbage

When squeezed , the question of your lolly plants should be steadfast all the way through . The forefront should be full and unfluctuating , with not too much give when you press it . If the heads look full but experience a little soft when you squeeze them , let them mature for a few more days before harvest home . Looks can often be deceiving and cabbage head may experience fast on the outside on the inside are still loose and flimsy . A adept emphatic hug on all sides of the principal should let you acknowledge if it ’s solid all the agency through . If the head experience solid and tightly formed , they are ready for harvest .

Use a sharp-worded , untainted brand knife to harvest your cabbage . Using stainless steel is important because the carbon on other metals react with the phytonutrients in cabbage and do the peel to turn black from middleman . apply your sharp , unsullied blade tongue to cut through the prow just below the head . absent the head , but pull up stakes the plant in the ground and go forward to naturalize it . Oftentimes , if the weather is still cool , the base of the industrial plant will grow smaller , miniskirt - heads of cultivated cabbage in the spot of the original promontory . The second harvest typically double the amount of food you may reap from one cabbage works , and the smaller heads are also additional cutter and tasty .

harvested cabbage with text overlay when to harvest cabbage vegetable gardening tips