Please Help Us Grow Cabbage

Cabbage is one of those vegetables that we have not been successful growing, at all. The small green cabbage worms are the nemesis of our crop every time. I thought when I tried growing some this fall, there might not be any of the moths left to get the worm crop started, but that was not the case. These wonderful little worms appear to be able to grow anytime during the spring, summer or fall here. I was able to pick enough of the worms off of the fall broccoli plants to keep them alive, but not the cabbage.

Really sad, huh?

I have read about floating row covers to protect the plants from the moths, attracting paper wasps, using Bt and picking the worms and feeding them to your chickens. It seems that once the garden gets going in the spring, I get busy and don't keep up with the worms, even though the chickens really enjoy them. I would prefer not to use a floating row cover, as it could provide endless hours of entertainment for our cats to the detriment of the plants. I am a big fan of companion planting, but so far the combinations I have tried have not been effective, or the plants grew at different rates, so the companions weren't large enough to make any difference.

The most common kind of cabbage I have grown to date usually look like this. One of the first posts I did when we started the blog last year was "Don't Grow Cabbage Like This", and this picture was the star of the show. This one actually got off to a fairly good start, but in the end, succumbed to the worms, even with a zinnia growing next door.
 

Frank and I have started trying to eat healthier and consume fewer carbohydrates, so we have added many more vegetables to our daily consumption. I have also revisited my research about lacto-fermented vegetables and purchased a fermenting crock. One of the main vegetables recommended for fermenting is cabbage, which provides another reason for successfully growing our own cabbage instead of consuming what we buy at the store. But, for now, that is all we have access to, so we are purchasing cabbage.

We do like to eat cabbage, we just wish it could be our own.

Another motivation for growing cabbage is how well it will store and keep for longer periods of time than other vegetables. If we were able to master producing cabbage in enough quantities, we could store some for the winter months for fresh eating, keep some in the fermentation crock and can some for soups and other dishes.

So, as you can tell, we need help, and there are probably other folks out there that are frustrated and could use your help, also. Please share your experiences, techniques and advice with us here. All comments are appreciated. And in the process, maybe we can all learn something new.

Until next time - Fern