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Vegetable Gardening

when do you know if cabbage is ready to pick?

12 years ago

I guess the 3rd year is the charm, I was finally able to get some cabbage to grow. I think it's a little late, we had a very wet, rainy, cool spring and they seemed to take forever to grow. Now, I'm afraid if I wait too long, it will flower. How do you know when it's ready to pick? I am including a picture.

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Comments (7)

farmerdill
12 years ago
Modern varieties of cabbage normally rot before they flower. The older varieties the head will crack open before the seed stalk comes up through the head. You can harvest anytime the head feels hard when given a gentle squeeze.
jonhughes
12 years ago
Hi michelelc,
Farmerdill has it dialed in, but for us newbies, that thing could start bolting at any minute (because of the heat/lateness etc etc) , If you want to eat some of your cabbage, I would pick NOW, just to be on the safe side, this year sucked for me with my cabbage harvest , I lost 1500 pounds (though it made awesome compost materials), due to bolting/not completely heading up. Here are a couple of pics to show what I mean, at first it looked like it was going to head up, but alas, it bolted ;-(

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Every bed in the background is about to be tossed onto the compost pile ;-(

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What it should look like:

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I've been eating apples right off the tree my entire life. For the past thirty years I've been living in a major apple growing area of Southern British Columbia here in Canada. When apples have a nice blush to them (besides fruit falling from the tree) that is the first sign they are ready for picking. Taste your fruit when they appear to be ripe, when you like what you are eating pick your fruit. Fruit on the tree will eventually ripen to the point of being mealy so don't leave the fruit hanging too long. As for those Coddling Moths try hanging sticky yellow cards in your trees. Yellow cards attract flying insects such as aphids and all sorts of other flying insects that can damage fruit and even ruin the tree over time. Here in Canada orchardists have been combating Coddling Moth by releasing sterile moths that help to reduce the overall population. Apple trees are lime lovers. They thrive in sweet soil. Add as much as two kilos of hydrated or dolomite lime as a top dressing around each tree right out to their drip lines. Another given with apples is water. Obviously with water restrictions in much of Australia watering your apple tree may be out of the question however with sufficient watering fruit will be bigger, juicier, with enough sunshine add wonderful sweetness! Oh yes! Don't forget, 'An Apple a Day . . . !'
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Here you go - lots of past discussions on when to pick eggplant. http://www.gardenweb.com/gardenweb/query/eggplant-pick-ready/topic=cornucop Basic answer - whenever they are of a size you wish to use and the skin is shiny. Smaller is better than overly large as flavor decreases with size. Dave
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txtom50
12 years ago
I go by how tight the head feels. When its as tight as one you squeeze at the grocery store, then its done and ready to pick. I generally pull some early anyway, just to space the harvest out over several weeks. If you need to leave some in the garden and don't want to risk the head splitting, you can use a shovel and cut about half the roots so it quits growing.
mandolls
12 years ago
It s reassuring to me that not everything that John Hughes grows is the perfect vegetable. Mine havent headed up yet, and I dont know if they will make it, we have some 90 degree weather coming this weekend.
farmerdill
12 years ago
Jon: the cabbages in your second photo look like a pointy head type. If so that is the way they head. heads are samll and looser than a round head cabbage. Good boiling cabbage, not very good for slaw and related uses.
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jonhughes
12 years ago
See michelelc,
What did I tell you about Farmerdill, he's the man ;-)
That is Exactly what happened, apparently I could have harvested them ,but I kept waiting for them to get "better", well...... live and learn, Thank You Farmerdill ;-)
michelelc
Original Author
12 years ago
I agree, thanks Farmerdill and everyone else. All the knowledge gained on this site is awesome! I plan on picking my cabbage tomorrow. It won't get hot until the weekend. I've only got 2, and only 1 is ready. I picked my cauliflower this morning and will have it soon for dinner!

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