I am trying my best to not overwater them. I think I am doing pretty good considering. My patience is getting the best of me now. I am ready to harvest something! My plants just seem to not want to form heads. The ones I planted in probably mid-september are growing well for the most part and have tiny heads that are barely visible, but have plenty of leaves. The ones in the raised beds were planted in early october and some are starting to form tiny heads as well. My temperatures are all over the place from freezing to almost 80 in less than a week! How much longer will my cabbages grow? Will they stop growing at certain temperatures (highs or lows)? Is 10-10-10 fertilizer or liquid soluble miracle gro better to fertilize with? I really just want to have a successful garden and any other tips will be greatly appreciated! I will have pictures tomorrow night!

its lacking sufficient light.. its stretching.. and the only time mine lost leaves.. was due to over watering ... i would root a few pieces... just in case.. thats some scaffolding you got going there.. ken

They like a slightly acidic soil, so it is fine. Tap water is very basic so having an acidic soil helps. The current canes are probably from last year. Limit new canes to 2 or 3 canes in a pot. Cut off any others. Don't let it produce a bunch of canes. It should fruit on any new canes in the fall. The first year it might be behind and the season runs out before berries ripen. This happens sometimes the first year. These plants can have two harvests, but since it is in a pot I would only take one harvest. 1st year canes (primocanes) produce a crop on the upper third of plant. if cane is left, it will produce a 2nd crop the next summer. I would advise in a pot to forgo this crop. It will be too crowded. So at the end of the season after fruit ripens in the fall. Remove all canes right to the ground. The next spring it will grow new canes and start the cycle over. If it has overhead protection leave the pot outside. Keep it moist not wet. I don't know where you are, so have no idea what winter advice to give. Right now I would let the soil become dry on top before watering. Don't over water.

If a plant loses turgidity (internal water pressure - wilts) while you can still detect moisture in the soil, it's a pretty good bet you're over-watering. Turgidity usually INCREASES during the dark period because stomata close, which reduces water loss and increases internal water pressure; however, watering an already over-watered plant robs roots of even more oxygen, making water uptake by way of the root pathway even more difficult. See "Using a Tell" below. If the plant can't or won't self correct the laid over trunk - change the planting angle or do something brave. To envision what the plant would look like with the planting angle changed, hold the soil in the pot with your hand and tip/rotate the pot so the trunk is more upright. Something brave would be leave it as it is, remove all branches growing straight down (or nearly so) and select one of the several upright branches that will occur soon as the new top. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al