How to Grow Winter Cabbage

If you want to pull fresh vegetables from your winter garden, consider planting late-season cabbage. Most varieties of this Brassica can survive a light frost, but some cultivars tolerate temperatures as low as 20ºF.

Some varieties of green and red types are particularly cold hardy. However, napa cabbage cultivars tend to be less tolerant of below-freezing temperatures.

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Continue reading to learn about how to grow winter cabbage in your garden.

When growing cabbage for a winter harvest, you’ll need to select a late-season cultivar, also known as “storage variety” or “overwintering” cabbage.

These names refer to the late season types that have better cold tolerance than others, and can provide you with a fresh harvest from November right through to February or March.

Often favored for use in making ferments like sauerkraut – an excellent storage option with probiotic benefits – these varieties often grow the largest heads at maturity, and they tend to keep in cold storage for longer periods than other cultivars as well.

You might be surprised to learn that the main limiting factor for growing cabbage in winter isn’t cold, but light. In the late fall and winter months, the decrease in daylight slows plant growth.

Therefore, it’s important to get plants in the ground early enough so that they have time to mature before the days draw in.

An important term to know if you’re planting for a fall and winter harvest is what organic farmer and educator Elliot Coleman refers to in “The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable