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~ Seed for CABBAGES ~ Cabbages basically fall into 3 groups named after when they are ready to eat: Spring Cabbages (sow in late summer / early autumn) Summer Cabbages ( sow in spring) Winter Cabbages (sow in spring/early summer) 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: 'Precoce de Louviers' Spring Cabbage A special variety from France. Chosen because very quick-growing (the name means 'Early Louviers Cabbage'), this is a medium green cabbage that forms big conical heads. Traditionally it is sown in late summer / early autumn for early spring harvest. This particular variety is also dual purpose and can also be sown very successfully in spring for harvest from August into the autumn (shown in pale green on the sowing chart below). We do this and have them ready at the end of July. Pointy. Sow autumn or spring. Order CaPL - 2g (450 seed) £1.62 'Baccalan de Rennes' Spring Cabbage A new Spring Cabbage this year - pointy, but with a more oval, oxheart shape. This is an old traditional variety from Rennes in France which was an important centre for vegetable growing in the late medieval period. (We have a very fine melon from the same area, too) Traditionally it is sown in late summer / early autumn, for a spring harvest. 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. This variety is still very popular all over Europe, especially in the wetter areas of France and Portugal, and we think it should do well in most parts of the UK. Oxheart. Sow autumn or spring. Order CaBR- 2g (450 seed) £1.55   '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) £1.64 '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) £1.28 'Quintal de Alsace' Winter Cabbage This French ‘drumhead’ type forms large flattened round heads for use over the winter. We have found references to it being grown at least 150 years ago in parts of Germany and France. The heart is well covered in blue-grey leaves and stands well in cold weather. . Sow spring or early summer Order CaQA - 2g (400 seed) £1.59 ‘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) £1.59 Paul & Becky's Asturian Tree Cabbage 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) £1.95   'Pe Tsai' Chinese (Winter) Cabbage Greens Another delicious cooking green to help you through the difficult winter months. Pe Tsai is a richly flavoured heading 'chinese cabbage'. Not really a cabbage though - perhaps more like a frilly Pak Choi. It is easy to grow, and the leaves have a really delicious flavour raw or cooked. The pale green cylindrical heads are ideal in salads, but it's also very good stir fried in chinese dishes - you'll recognise it as a main ingredient in your take-aways once you've grown it! We like it because it is very quick to grow and head up; ready in autumn from a late-summer sowing. We also sow it in our polytunnel in autumn to eat as salad leaves over the winter. Sow after midsummer. Do not sow in Spring. Order OVPT - 1g (lots of seed) £1.36 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: 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?