Cabbage

Spring cabbage arrives in time for July slaw, and the fall planting grows the dense heads the kraut crock wants. Heads hold in the garden for weeks once ready, which forgives an unhurried kitchen.

Growing

Indoors six to eight weeks ahead in March, into the garden in May, heads by July: that is the spring set. The fall round starts in June, transplants out in August, and matures in September and October tasting better for the cold. One plant fills a 5 to 7 gallon bag; in a bed give them eighteen inches or the heads stay small. Keep water even as heads firm up, because a heavy rain after a dry spell is how cabbage splits. If a head is ready before the kitchen is, twist the plant a quarter turn to snap some roots and stall it.

Varieties

Early Jersey Wakefield is the pointed spring classic; Storage No. 4 holds the fall and cellar end; Red Express fits neatly in a bag.

Pests

Cabbage hides its pest damage in plain sight: the loose wrapper leaves absorb most of the chewing and peel away at harvest, and the head underneath is usually flawless. What the wrappers cannot stop is a worm boring inward, and no spray follows it there, which makes this the bed where a transplant-day net earns its keep most. Slugs treat the same wrapper leaves as a rain shelter; they leave with the leaves.

In the kitchen

Slaw and quick kraut from the spring heads. The dense fall heads go to fermented kraut in the crock and braises with sausage.