Late Harvest Of Early Cabbage

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

To some, the title of the article will seem absurd, because the habit of planting early-maturing varieties in the middle of spring is firmly in our gardeners. While this form of vegetable has flexible versatility. It can be planted from early spring to mid-summer

Disembarkation dates

To get a continuous supply of useful products for a long time, early cabbage varieties are planted in stages with an interval of 10 days. For a small family, 5-10 pieces are enough at a time.

It is better to prepare seedlings for your own needs yourself. By setting the same time interval as when planting in open ground. An early cabbage planted in mid-July will harvest in early September.

Benefits of Late Boarding

Late landing gives us a number of advantages:

• sowing seeds under film shelters, bypassing planting cassettes or boxes;

• the germination capacity of the starting material increases;

• there is no need for hardening, accustoming finished specimens to the conditions of open ground;

• with a rare arrangement of seedlings, picking can be excluded;

• plants will not need additional time to restore the damaged root system;

• the quantity and quality of finished products increases;

• seedlings escape from damage by the main pests, diseases;

• protection from harmful factors by mechanical (manual collection), vegetable (dusting with a mixture of tobacco and ash, spraying with solutions of tansy, wormwood, mixed planting with marigolds, calendula) means;

• chemical measures to control pathogens are excluded;

• the likelihood of head cracking due to stable weather in the second half of summer decreases (there are no sudden changes in temperature, humidity).

The list goes on and on. Every gardener, having tried the technique, will be able to supplement it with his own personal observations.

Experimental tests

This year I conducted an experiment with late sowing of an early variety Express. There was no space on the windows, so on May 1 I spread the seeds right in the garden next to the flowers. The expiration dates were coming to an end, so I did not count on good germination. The seeding rate was doubled.

5 plants have sprung up on 1 row. Initially, together with flower seedlings, the bushes developed under a film cover. Due to the small amount of starting material, she refused the pick. I left the cabbage in the same place for the whole summer.

Watered moderately during dry periods. I did not use chemical treatments. My pets are actually lost among the grown flowers. Therefore, as can be seen in the photo on August 12, the damage by slugs is insignificant, only on the outer sheets.

By the beginning of September, good tight forks were tied. I cut them off in dry weather, put them in the refrigerator for storage.

This year, autumn spoiled us with warmth. September-October turned out to be with temperatures above 15 degrees. On the roots left in the soil, the second crop of small forks managed to ripen. The new batch was used immediately for processing.

Harvesting, storage

There is an opinion about the short-term storage of an early harvest. It is fundamentally wrong. This vegetable keeps well in the refrigerator for 1-2 months after harvest.

What Tricks Affect Positive Results?

1. Harvesting at the optimum time in the phase of technical ripeness. When the heads of cabbage are tightly closed with green leaves. Preservation of the outer plates further protects them from the adverse effects of pathogens during storage.

2. Do not wait for the product to crack. Damaged vegetables are an open gateway for infection.

3. Collection in dry sunny weather.

4. Cutting heads of cabbage with clean tools, without contact of particles of earth on the wound surfaces.

5. Packing in individual plastic bags for each unit.

Observing the simple methods described above, you will be able to feast on juicy, tender leaves of early cabbage all summer until late autumn. Make vitamin salads, pie fillings without additional heat treatment. Pamper your family with delicious recipes for your favorite dishes.