Cabbage school project
 

So my little girl comes home all happy with her Bonnie cabbage plant to grow for the cabbage project. The problem is I have never successfully grown cabbage.I try every year and nothing.Last year I had a baseball sized head full of cabbage worms. She is so excited and I don't want to let her down but it's just not easy for me.So what are some tips on cabbage, in ground or container, fertilizer anything that might help is at least get a decent head.

In ground, lots of fertilizer and water. Protecting one plant from critters should be easy. cover from the get go with a little tent made from row cover or tulle over a frame made from a tomato cage or sticks staked down all around to prevent the cabbage butterflies from laying eggs on the plant.
best of luck. Cabbage is a weird plant to give to children and its not super easy to grow due to pests mostly but sure worth a try :) Maybe have some green beans or sunflowers as backups so she has some success
KarenO

Well she does her own little garden every year.Never cabbage and I thought it was a little odd too but it is cool that they do something.It is a nationwide Bonnie Plants 3 3rd grade cabbage program.At the end of the season her teacher will pick one best of show plant which will be entered into the nationwide prize drawing.

Anything that gets kids in the garden and interested in growing things is great by me. :) I hope she grows a beauty of a cabbage.
KarenO

I just love the idea of school gardens. I wonder what caring genius first thought of it?

One of the neighbor kids brought his little Bonnie plant to me for help. We just set it out in the garden and it is really growing nice right now but I don't know if it will have time to head up before it gets too hot.

If you keep a cabbage dusted with Dipel dust it will keep the worms under control with little effort but it does need to be reapplied after heavy rains. I feed all my similar type plants with Urban Farms Vegetable fertilizer every week. Cabbage is a heavy feeder so frequent feedings and plenty of water are necessary for them to get to a good size. The only other pest that really bothers me with cabbage is sometimes slugs will crawl up inside the cabbage. They don't really stop them from growing but they are very yucky when you find them.

Bill

Bill, you and I are not in cabbage country, me thinks. Maybe fall planting ?.
I don't want to waste my time growing cabbage that sells for 20 cents a pond. Plus can't put up with cabbage worms (the white butterfly larva ?)
I rather grow some Brussel Sprouts. That might be a fall planting. That is just me.

Oh man I feel sorry for his classmates with you helping him. Mine is doing OK .I will have to find some dipel dust. We are expecting a hard freeze tonight so I covered it. I didn't know if that would kill it. Thanks for the help.

[QUOTE=Hollylasue;625524]Oh man I feel sorry for his classmates with you helping him. Mine is doing OK .I will have to find some dipel dust. We are expecting a hard freeze tonight so I covered it. I didn't know if that would kill it. Thanks for the help.[/QUOTE]

yep, cover it. a frost is one thing but a hard freeze would most likely kill it especially if it wasn't hardened off... speaking of which, I need to go cover mine in the high tunnel... in the teens tonight. sigh.

The key to growing cabbage here is ... growing them in cool weather. No bugs, better flavour and they can take a bit of frost.

Red ones grow slowly but bugs mostly ignore them.