The earlies are smaller & more tender,
but the winter ones have longer to grow and so are much bigger.

Rather than offer a huge array of similar types for you to try to choose between,
we have instead selected a couple of good varieties from each group.

These are listed in order of harvest: from Spring Cabbages at the Top, to Winter Cabbages at the Bottom of the page.

Normally, it is sown in late summer / early autumn for early spring harvest - see the dark green on the calendar below.

However, this variety is dual purpose and as an alternative, you can very successfully sow in spring. In this case you'll get cabbages from August onwards. (shown in pale green ).

You sow this one in late summer/early autumn, for harvest the following spring. It makes big oval heads, pointy at the top. It is ideal for harvesting as spring greens or leaving a bit longer to heart up fully - see the dark green on the calendar below.

You can try sowing it in early spring too, for a summer harvest, and we'd be pleased to hear how you get on if you try doing this. (light green below)

This variety is still very popular all over Europe, especially in the wetter areas of France and Portugal, and we have had good reports back from different parts of the UK.

Golden Acre Summer Cabbage
This new addition to the catalogue was chosen from our 2010 trials. It's a really good summer cabbage that makes tight round heads that are a very attractive golden-green colour. (The colour hasn't shown so well in the photo, but a row of them in the garden really does stand out glowingly.)

The compact heads are really dense, packed with leaves, and have an excellent flavour. Ideal for smaller families as it doesn't get too huge.

Order CaGo - 2g (lots of seed) £1.71

'Nantais Hatif' Late Summer / Early Autumn Green Cabbage
This is a great round cabbage with heavy, tight, crisp, perfectly ball-shaped heads.

It is sown in spring and ready to eat from late summer on into autumn.

It's a really good & reliable, tightly wrapped green cabbage.

Order CaNH- 2g (450 seed) £1.78

'Rouge Tete Noir' Late Summer/ Early Autumn Red Cabbage
This reliable red variety is a round-headed cabbage we have chosen for late summer (or even early autumn) harvest.

It looks great shredded in salads or coleslaw as the deep red surface contrasts with the white flesh inside. Sow in spring for use mid-summer onwards.

We have found that red cabbages seem to be somewhat less affected by caterpillars, perhaps because they show up more to the birds on the red background?

Firm red heads, short stem.

Order CaRT - 2g (400 seed) £1.58

'Quintal de Alsace' Winter Cabbage
This traditional ‘drumhead’ cabbage from France forms large slightly flat heads for use over the winter.

The name means 'hundredweight' and they are really quite big. A historical variety that has been relied on for generations – we've found references to it being grown at least 150 years ago in many countries.

The solid heart is well covered in blue-grey leaves and stands well in cold weather.

Sow spring or early summer

Order CaQA - 2g (400 seed) £1.47

‘Piacenza’ Savoy Winter Cabbage

If you've not grown them before, 'Savoy' cabbages are the ones with a bobbly texture to the leaves.

And we’ve found a really good one now - a cold-resistant savoy from the town of Piacenza (in the Po Valley of Italy), with bright green leaves which are very finely savoyed.

It makes a good round head, which is nice and tight to protect against mud and insects.

Green savoy, sow in spring

Order CaPS - 2g (300 seed) £1.88

Paul & Becky's Asturian Tree Cabbage RARE
This fantastic Spanish heirloom has absolutely enormous leaves - and it grows very much like a kale: a 2 foot stalk with a loose head on top. You simply take the huge leaves a few at a time to eat all year round.

You can even keep it going for two years or more! Just cut it back when it tries to flower - it makes new growth, ideal for fresh cabbage in spring during the ‘hungry gap’.

Cooks like a cabbage, rather than a kale. Tree cabbage like this is also a key ingredient in the classic Spanish dish 'Caldo Gallego'.

Grows like cabbage, harvested like a kale . Very, very rare.

Order CaPB small packet of 0.5g (approx 50 - 100 seed) [OG1] £2.44

Saving Cabbage Seed is EASY:

We would really like to encourage you to have a go at saving seed from the vegetable brassica family - that's the cabbages, kales, oriental vegetables, broccoli and turnip family.

We know many of you save obvious vegetables like tomato and lettuce seed, but we've noticed that in the past people shied away from doing the biennial vegetables (plants that flower in their second year).

More people are saving brassica seed now - and we'd like to encourage you to try it too: its incredibly easy, and you get so much seed, you'll have loads to give away.

There's really no need for example to buy Cabbage seed from us every year at all. You just set aside a patch of good plants, and let them flower. (You will need to slash the head of ball-types with a knife to let the seed stalk out.) Make sure that you've got a reasonable number, that they are healthy, and that no other sorts are flowering nearby that might cross with them. You'll get lots of seeds in August.

How to actually get the seeds out:

plant picture

Here's Kate processing some Pak Choi.

You do need to make sure they aren't crossed with anything,
as many of the brassicas (cabbages, cauliflowers etc) will cross with each other very readily.

Flower stalks from a good-sized population are hung up to dry,
then broken open over a bowl (or old baby bath in this case!).

The bits of pod are screened out with a sieve or a soil riddle
- but you can instead winnow them off in a breeze pretty easily if you prefer.

Step-by-step, highly detailed instructions are here on our new brassica-seedsaving page.
And of course, seed-saving is only possible because these are all real, non-hybrid varieties.

It's pretty foolproof - why not give it a go?

~ Seed for CABBAGES ~

Saving Cabbage Seed is EASY: