Cabbage Durham Early - Brassica oleracea capitata

The 'Durham Early' Cabbage is a traditional variety in England, highly appreciated for its reliability. This cabbage forms compact heads of delicious taste quality. It is sown from March to May and from July to August for a harvest from February to August.

The Savoy Cabbage or White Cabbage is a very popular leafy vegetable. It is one of the must-haves in the vegetable garden, and if we love it so much, it may be as much for its flavour as for the generous appearance of the heads it forms.

Called interchangeably White Cabbage or Savoy Cabbage (in Latin Brassica oleracea capitata, capitata meaning "head"), this beautiful vegetable plant belongs to the large family of Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae). Originally from Europe, it is a biennial plant cultivated as an annual that produces a more or less tight head, which can be round, slightly flattened or conical in pointed varieties. The leaves of the Savoy Cabbage are smooth, and their colour differs depending on the varieties: from very light green, almost white, to dark green, sometimes slightly bluish, to red tinged with violet to nearly black.

The Cabbage, although emblematic of winter, can be sown and harvested almost all year round. The varieties are generally grouped into three main categories: spring cabbages, which are harvested from late April to June; summer and autumn cabbages for the period from July; and winter cabbages, which, along with leeks and parsnips, allow you to wait until the first spring harvests.

The Savoy Cabbage can be consumed both raw and cooked; it can be prepared, grated in salads, braised to accompany meat and fish dishes, stuffed or even in soup and sauerkraut. There is no shortage of recipes, both in traditional and modern cuisine.

From a dietary point of view, it is remarkable: its energy value is low but very rich in vitamins C, B6 and B9; it also contains a lot of fibre and minerals such as calcium.

In the vegetable garden, it is easy to grow as long as you meet its requirements: deep soil, excellent manure and regular moisture. It thrives in the sun and generally does well in cool and rainy climates.

Harvest is done when the cabbage forms a nice head before the leaves turn yellow. It is done with a knife by cutting just below the head.

Storage: The Savoy Cabbage can be kept in the refrigerator for several days. It also freezes very well after being blanched in salted boiling water. Winter varieties can also be left standing. Finally, the preparation of sauerkraut (lacto-fermentation) allows the delicious preservation of white-headed autumn varieties.

The gardener's little trick: Don't forget the flowers! Even though the vegetable garden is primarily a garden for producing quality vegetables, it is always interesting to plant flowers. First, even if the beauty of certain vegetables like Cabbage is sufficient for their aesthetic pleasure, they also repel pests and attract valuable pollinators. So, don't hesitate to plant, in the middle of the rows or at the edge of the bed, Gaillardias, Marigolds, Zinnias, Cosmos, Nasturtiums or even beautiful herbs like Dill. However, be careful with certain plants, although very useful, like Borage, which tends to self-seed abundantly in dedicated crop spaces.