Fancy fresh cabbages next spring? Then it’s time to get sowing

Spring cabbages sown now will grow swiftly and then overwinter in your gardenIf you told primary-school-age me that I’d one day love cabbage, I would have laughed and called you a liar. Despite how much school dinners tried to put me – and likely, you – off this green-leafed staple, I’m happy to say that my taste has been rehabilitated. Yet, for all the love I have for the humble cabbage, it is not a crop I grow. And it is for the same reason that lots of grow-your-own classics don’t make it on to my plot: I don’t have enough space. For a vegetable that is so inexpensive and ubiquitous, I simply can’t justify it.But if you’re fortunate enough to have a decent-sized patch – or just a strong desire to grow cabbages – then it’s a good time to get them started. Spring cabbages sown now – in good quality sowing compost in a modular tray – will grow swiftly in summer’s ideal conditions. They will then overwinter in the ground all the way through to next spring, when they will be ready to pick. Continue reading...