Kitchen Garden Forum

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions on why my red cabbage dont seem to be hearting. They’ve grown well and are a little taller than I’d like but seem all leaf and no heart. I tried putting a feed on them and they are firmed in. Could it be the unseasonably hot spell we had in Scotland in late April early May?

Hi Myrkk! I'm blaming the heat for my cauliflower fails. They just started to heart as tiny little guys which I've not experienced before & my neighbour showed me his & they are the same. The other brassica's are doing fine. I made the mistake of giving mine a chance but they failed. Neighbour took his as just him & enjoyed his cauliflower cheese. My red cabbages were no shows, but this is strictly a problem of mine neighbours are fine.

Mine are all club root resistant varieties & someone else told me club root seeds life is not as long but never had a problem before & been growing them for ages in both hot & milder spells. Fresh seeds bought just in case though! Will be interesting to see if others from your area have had any problems though!

Timing seems a little strange. I grow red cabbage for Autumn /early Winter and wouldn't expect any sign of a heart yet. I grow Lodero, what are yours?

No idea Geoff. I didn’t have time to grow from seed this year so just bought from a local garden centre and label just said red cabbage.
From your pic though mine are much bigger hence I’m a little surprised there are no hearts starting.

Since my last input I have weeded all my Brassica's & cut back the excess grape vines I can see that I do have club root resistant Red Lodero growing & they are the same as yours. I am not worried about this, they look like this every year & seem to take ages to heart, literally months so not ready until toward the end of the year. Maybe what you bought are club root resistant varieties like Geoff & mine? I can say they are quite tough guys as stood up to the neglect & masses of huge weeds as they were the last bed weeded; didn't get much water either as couldn't see where they or other brassica's were even in there.

All the cauli's gave up completely & cabbages seem behind but I had to focus on the other side for ages to improve the soil as the floods dried out & the soil was compacted really deep so took ages.

I think mine are starting to heart now. I’m just a little concerned as they have quite long stalks, I’d say a good 6” to 8” or so. From memory I seem to remember my past cabbages having short stalks. Hopefully they don’t fall over and break.

Hi Myrkk!
I would think about staking these from now as they don't like root rock & if stalks long they will be at risk of wind doing this. It probably wouldn't hurt to give them a little mound of soil at the base as well for extra support, won't upset the plants if stems that long. Mine are just sitting still, but looking happy enough.