A high-yielding hybrid cultivar with an upright growth habit, ‘Tiger’ plants have large, thick, and slightly savoyed leaves with a green-blue hue.
Known for its satisfying flavor, ‘Tiger’ can be planted as a cut-and-come-again crop for repeat harvests, with leaves that mature in about 55 to 60 days.
Best suited to Hardiness Zones 3 to 12, this high-yielding heirloom collard cultivar produces dark green, shiny, and slightly crumpled leaves with yellow stems.
With a mounding habit, plants reach about 34 inches in height and they like to spread.
Ready to grow your own flavorful and nutritious leafy greens? Whatever the growing zone, with the proper care, collard greens are an annual edible that can flourish in your garden.
Seeds can be started indoors, or sown directly in the garden.
Plant several sets of seeds in succession or cut and come again for multiple collard harvests throughout the season, and plan for exposure to a light frost late in the season in cooler zones for the best flavor.
Before you know it, you’ll be sitting down to plates filled with homegrown collard wraps, savory sides, delectable soups, and canned goods made with this delectable and nutritious vegetable.
Which type will you add to the veggie patch this year? Do you have a favorite cultivar that wasn’t mentioned here? Feel free to drop us a line in the comments!
With rounded, slightly flattened heads, ‘Bermeo’ is heat-tolerant cauliflower hybrid that produces five- to seven-inch white, uniform heads in just 68 days.
The crisp, dense curds are slightly sweet with a nutty flavor. The inner leaves are tight, reducing the need for manual tying for blanching.
The vigorous plants grow up to 14 inches tall with a spread of 12 to 18 inches.
If you want to add some color to your cooking, you can find seeds available at Burpee.
5. Depurple
Purple florets on white stems characterize the unique ‘Depurple’ hybrid cauliflower. It matures in approximately 80 to 100 days, and is well worth the wait.
Dense, six- to seven-inch heads contain antioxidant anthocyanins, with flavorful hints of butter and nuts.
Some purple types turn green during cooking, but you may try adding vinegar or lemon juice to help retain the color.
For a robust and fast-growing cauliflower, consider ‘Early White.’ This hybrid may mature in as few as 52 days, and produces tight, pure white heads that measure up to nine inches across.
This variety exhibits more cold tolerance than average, and may reach 30 inches in height. Firmness and a classic mild cauliflower flavor characterize this winner.
Here’s an early type that matures in 33 to 60 days, making ‘Fioretto 60’ a good choice for spring.
This is a “sprouting” cauliflower variety, with five- to six-inch heads made up of loose white florets on long, light green stems. It resembles broccoli rabe.
‘Flamenco’ is a cauliflower hybrid that produces bright white, six- to seven-inch heads with a very mild, sweet flavor in about 72 days.
The curds are dense, held in rounded, dome-shaped heads. With outstanding heat tolerance, ‘Flamenco’ is ideal for growing in the south, where the heat can cause problems.
Paler than cheddar types, ‘Flame Star’ is an early orange hybrid that matures in approximately 55 to 60 days.
Its heads are firm, with dense, smooth curds and a diameter of about seven inches. This type exhibits better than average heat tolerance and reaches a height of about 14 inches.
Hybrid ‘Skywalker’ is cold-tolerant and produces six- to seven-inch white heads with dense curds after 75 days.
This cultivar is partially self-blanching but can benefit from having the leaves tied to ensure the pure white color. The plant grows 12 to 18 inches tall and wide.
This heirloom white cauliflower harks back to the “originals” in Europe.
‘Snowball’ is a self-blanching cultivar that matures in 65 to 75 days. Its leaves protect developing heads that range from approximately six to eight inches across.
‘Tessaury’ is a heat-tolerant cauliflower hybrid that produces creamy white, dense heads after 72 days. The dense florets form six- to seven-inch uniformly round heads.
The flavor is mild, nutty, and sweet, perfect for roasting or eating fresh.
The ‘Veronica’ Romanesco looks like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli, that matures in about 85 days.
Heads measure approximately seven inches across, and consist of unusually pointy and visually interesting lime green whorls of curds that develop in a fractal pattern.
Plants reach a height of 18 to 24 inches.
Sometimes called “broccoflower,” this unique vegetable has a mildly sweet, savory/nutty flavor.
If you’re looking for a fast-growing traditional white cauliflower for a container or small plot, this one’s for you. ‘White Corona’ is a hybrid that matures in 30 to 33 days.
Its bright white heads measure three to five inches across at maturity.
The florets are a striking deep purple with pale green stems, adding both color and flavor to the harvest. Tender and mild, they’re excellent fresh in salads or lightly cooked.
This variety matures in about 65 days and is renowned for its prolific sprouting side shoots following the first harvest.
‘Calabrese’ seeds are available from Eden Brothers in packages of 500 seeds, one ounce, quarter-pound, or one pound.
5. Covina
‘Covina’ is a hybrid heading broccoli that matures in about 75 days.
Plants reach 24 to 30 inches tall and produce compact, tightly domed heads six to eight inches across.
It performs reliably in variable weather, tolerating both heat and cool spells, and carries resistance to Fusarium yellows with intermediate resistance to black rot and white rust.
‘Destiny’ is a hybrid that has been bred for exceptional heat tolerance in Zones 7 to 11. It produces small to medium green heads tinged with purple in 70 to 75 days.
This hybrid was tailored for the colder northeastern regions of the US and Canada, and does well in both the spring and the fall. It produces very large blue-green crowns with superb flavor.
‘Eastern Magic’ also remarkably heat tolerant, allowing those in the colder regions to extend their growing season into the summer. It’s a fast grower that matures in 60 to 65 days.
‘Fiesta’ is a reliable hybrid heading broccoli that matures in about 65 to 75 days.
Plants are compact and produce uniformly tight, dome-shaped heads approximately six to seven inches across.
This cultivar performs well in both warm days and cool nights, making it adaptable for spring and fall growing, while offering good resistance to Fusarium yellows, black rot, and white rust.
A vigorous sprouting type, ‘Montebello’ is a hybrid between broccoli and Chinese sprouting that reaches about 28 to 30 inches tall with a 20 to 24 inch spread.
Reaching maturity in roughly 75 to 80 days from transplant, this cultivar produces a modest central floret cluster followed by lots of tender side shoots for prolonged harvest.
This is a very cold-hardy heirloom that produces multiple small, purplish florets on each plant instead of a single large head.
Purple sprouting is suitable for Zones 2 to 11. In areas without particularly steamy summers or harsh winters, you may be able to plant in early spring, midsummer, and early fall, for three successive harvest periods.
Its ability to “winter over” and come up in early spring is a noteworthy feature.
You may serve the florets with leaves and stems attached, as all are quite tender. Also, don’t be surprised when the purple turns to green during cooking!
‘Purplelicious’ produces a bounty of sweet, colorful side shoots, extending the harvest. The stems are versatile and flavorful, ideal for steaming, roasted, or fresh in colorful salads.
After the main head is cut, the plant continues to produce side shoots, extending the harvest. The dense, uniform heads are well suited for steaming, roasting, or freezing.
This ancient Italian heirloom boasts unique chartreuse pointed spiral florets. Grow it in Zones 3 to 10, but beware – it bolts at the slightest hint of high temps.
Start seeds indoors and get them into the ground ASAP in early spring, or sow in late fall, but avoid midsummer heat.
Each plant offers two to three harvests over about a month, making it ideal for fresh snacking, salads, or quick sautés.
You can find packets of 50 seeds or bundles of six plants available at Burpee.
17. Santee
‘Santee’ is a purple-sprouting broccoli hybrid that matures in about 80 to 100 days.
It grows approximately 16 to 20 inches tall and forms clusters of purple florets on sturdy green stems.
After the central buds are cut, the plant continues producing side shoots over several weeks, making it ideal for late-fall or overwinter harvests in mild climates.
Known for its delicious flavor, ‘Sun King’ will produce blue-green heads of six to eight inches in diameter, with plenty of side shoots. These will reach maturity in about 70 days.
This heirloom, which was enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson, is noted for its cold tolerance, large blue-green main heads, and proliferation of side shoots.
Perfect for Zones 3 to 10, it matures in a non-uniform fashion for continual harvesting throughout the growing season. Allow 85 days to reach maturity.
Harvest stems with leaves and budded florets in 40 to 60 days, or when they reach about six inches in height. You will be able to enjoy multiple yields throughout the growing season.
Heirloom Chinese broccoli (B. oleracea var. alboglabra) is also called gai-lan, jie lan, or kai-lan/kailaan.
It, too, is leaf dominant, and boasts shades of glossy blue-green to dark green. Stems are thick, florets are small, and the taste is on the bitter side.
Broccolini (B. oleracea aspabroc hybrid) comes to us from Japan.
Though it’s sometimes confused for baby broccoli, it is actually a cross between B. oleracea var. italica and gai-lan (B. oleracea var. alboglabra) that makes for a sweet, thin-stemmed, dark leafy green with small florets.
The name “aspabroc” is derived from the unique flavor that resembles a mixture of asparagus and broccoli.
It is a long-season crop, typically requiring 180 to 220 days from transplant to harvest, or about six to seven months, depending on climate and growing conditions.
You can find seeds for purple sprouting broccoli in a variety of packet sizes available at Eden Brothers.
Royal Tenderette
An excellent choice for containers, the green sprouting variety ‘Royal Tenderette’ produces several three- to four-inch stalks that each produce a floret.
This fast-growing variety matures in just 50 to 60 days from germination and can produce two to three harvests.
You can simply cut a few sweet-tasting florets off for an easy lunchtime side dish for your family and then watch as more stalks grow in 12 to 14 days.
Fill your container with soil and add a bit of fertilizer. You can either use:
Potting mix amended with 10-10-10 (NPK) fertilizer, according to the directions on the package.
Well-draining garden soil amended half and half with compost or well-rotted manure.
If you decide to use soil from your garden, don’t use soil that has been previously planted with brassicas as it can harbor disease.
Broccoli likes neutral to slightly acidic soil, so you may wish to conduct a soil test to make sure the pH is between 6.0 and 7.0.
Soil should be loose and well-draining to promote healthy root growth.
How to Grow
Broccoli loves cool weather and a full sun location, but hot summer temperatures can cause the plant to bolt.
Because of this, there are two ideal seasons for planting your broccoli: spring and fall.
For a spring planting, you’ll want to start seeds indoors about eight weeks before your average last frost date.
You’ll get a head start if you sow them indoors, but you can also sow directly in containers outdoors, two to three weeks before your average last frost date.
For a fall planting, sow seeds about eight to 10 weeks before your average first frost date.
The plus side of growing in containers during cooler fall weather is that you’ll battle fewer bugs.
These early-maturing plants are fully grown in 30 to 60 days. They top out at 24 to 48 inches, with a spread of 12 to 14 inches, making them well-suited to container gardening.
This winter-hardy Russian heirloom has excellent cold tolerance and can withstand a bit of shade. Its blue-green leaves are ruffled slightly, and have a distinct flavor with hints of cabbage.
Their tenderness makes them suited to raw eating in sandwiches and salads.
Portuguese kale is an unusual variety that has flat blue-green leaves with thick white ribs, and resembles a loose head of cabbage or collard greens.
It may weigh anywhere from five to seven pounds at maturity. The leaves measure up to 24 inches across, and despite their size, are quite tender and flavorful.
This type is perfect for robust traditional soups like Portuguese caldo verde or Spanish caldo gallego.
‘Premier’ is an heirloom cultivar with medium green, smooth leaves that reach a length of approximately 15 inches. They are mild in flavor and make a refreshing addition to cold plates.
This type is known for being especially cold tolerant, slow to bolt, and high yielding.
Maturity is in approximately 60 days. Its compact dimensions are 12 to 15 inches tall and equally wide, making it a practical choice for container gardening.
‘Prizm’ boasts nearly stemless green leaves that curl tightly and have a delightfully nutty undertone. The youngest leaves are the sweetest.
This type is excellent in cold dishes. It also performs well in fast-prep stir fries. And it whips up like a breeze in smoothies and other blended drinks.
Plants mature in 50 to 60 days. Heights reach 10 to 24 inches with a 10- to 12-inch spread, making this variety great for smaller-scale plots and containers.
With its curly purple leaves and upright growth habit, ‘Redbor’ adds rich color, texture, and vertical interest to garden settings. It’s a remarkably cold-hardy cultivar that sweetens with every hard freeze.
Harvest tender young leaves for salads and cold plates, and slow-cook mature leaves to soften the firm stems.
Expect maturity in 50 to 60 days. Plants reach heights of 12 to 20 inches with a spread of 10 to 18 inches, and are an excellent choice for pots on the patio and small gardens.
If you are looking for an extremely cold-tolerant kale cultivar, here it is. ‘Red Russian’ can withstand temperatures of -10°F, and it tastes even better for the experience.
With oak-like greenish-purple leaves and prominent purple ribs and veining, this attractive variety is best for hearty slow-cooking that tenderizes even the thickest stalks.
This cultivar has a green oak-style leaf with ruffled edges. Magenta ribs and veining make for dramatic contrast, and the color gets richer with maturity.
Harvest leaves when they’re young, at about six inches tall for the tenderest, sweetest addition to microgreens salads.
‘Red Ursa’ tolerates both heat and cold very well, with above average bolt resistance and frost tolerance.
Similar to ‘Red Russian,’ ruffled oak-shaped leaves and purple veining characterize this type.
However, instead of having to slow-cook the largest leaves to tenderize them, this type is especially soft and sweet when the leaves are both young and mature.
Deep blue-purple leaves and magenta midribs and veining cast a reddish glow over sweet and tender ‘Scarlet.’
Delicious both raw and quick-cooked, pick this type when the leaves are a mere six inches long for peak flavor and texture. A light frost is well-tolerated and enhances the unique color.
Heirloom ‘Blue Scotch Curled’ is a variety with tight and curly blue-green leaves that can withstand a light frost, and will taste even sweeter for it. It thrives in both heat and cold, and tolerates some shade as well.
Look forward to an abundant harvest of young greens for salads, pop raw leaves into a blended drink, or slow-cook them in a stew for a healthy dose of green veggie nutrition.
“Vates” stands for Virginia Truck Experiment Station, and denotes the agricultural research facility where this variety was developed during the Depression.
‘White Russian’ has blue-green oak-style leaves with white ribs and slightly ruffled edges. Especially tolerant of the cold, its sweetness is enhanced by a light frost.
Harvest tender young leaves for fresh baby greens, or let the ample foliage mature for a substantial addition to slow-cooked soups, stews, and simmered sides.
Kale adds bumpy, curly, and ruffled textures, as well as eye-catching shades of black, blue, green, and purple, to both the early and late season landscape.
And with a range of mature dimensions, you can create a custom backdrop to seasonal plants in the foreground.
And as if that isn’t enough, handsome kale plants yield armloads of tasty and nutritious baby greens to consume crisp and cool, as well as mature leaves to cook and savor.
When selecting varieties, note the number of days to maturity, and which ones have exceptional heat and/or cold tolerance. Choose the ones that best suit your growing environment.
Are you growing kale? Which are your favorite varieties? Let us know in the comments section below!
For many years, the only way I could grow crops was in containers.
I was moving every year or so, often from apartment to apartment, so growing in containers was the only way to indulge my gardening passion.
So to say I’m a fan is an understatement. And you’d best believe my winter container garden always included cabbage.
Not only is cabbage easy to grow in the ground, provided the weather is cool enough, but it’s a cinch to grow in containers as well.
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Cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. captitata, is a cool-season crop, producing crunchy heads packed with nutrients and fiber, typically grown either in spring or fall.
Our guide to growing cabbage has all the details for growing this popular brassica in the garden. Considering the size of the heads, cabbage has surprisingly small roots, making it perfect for growing in containers.
If you’re gardening in small spaces or resting your raised beds, container gardening is an excellent way to grow an abundance of produce.
And that’s what we’ll discuss in this guide. Here’s what I’ll cover:
Picking the Right Container
You don’t need anything large or impressive when picking a container for growing your cabbage.
The one consideration to keep in mind is that these plants can be quite top-heavy.
You could use a small plastic grower’s pot, but you’d need to give it some support, such as placing the pot inside a heavier container to prevent it from tipping over.
A gallon of soil for each head is about right, and you want the container you choose to be wide enough that if you plant more than one in a single pot, say three in a three-gallon pot, the heads won’t touch.
The pots should be a minimum of six inches deep, but ideally 12 inches, to promote robust growth.
The containers also must have drainage. A pot without drainage is a quick trip to root rot-ville and you don’t want to go there.
The material the pot is made of isn’t as important as the drainage, but if the temperatures tend to get a bit warm in your area while the plants are growing, you might want to avoid black plastic or metal.
Both will warm up too much for cool-weather-loving cabbage. Glazed ceramic or clay tends to stay cooler.
Cultivars to Select
You can pretty much choose any cabbage cultivar to grow in containers, though you might want to avoid the very large cultivars like ‘Tropic Giant’ unless you have a huge container.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Amarant
Purple cabbage can change the look of any dish, whether you’re using it in coleslaw, rolls, or soup.
‘Amarant’ has vibrant purple leaves all the way through the head, which can weigh between one and a half and two and a half pounds.
Bred by the German Kultursaat biodynamic seed initiative, it’s ready in about 70 days and will even grow well in moderately warm temperatures.
You can purchase seeds in quantities from 25 to 100 million at High Mowing Seeds.
Copenhagen Market
I’ve had great success with ‘Copenhagen Market.’
The medium-sized heads mature in about 70 days and weigh in at about a pound when they’re ready. It’s an heirloom cultivar that was introduced in 1909.
If you’d like to give it a go, pick up seeds in a variety of packet sizes at True Leaf Market.
Earliana
If patience isn’t your middle name, ‘Earliana’ is going to be your new favorite.
In just 60 days, you can be enjoying full-sized, compact, two-pound heads. Despite their weight, they aren’t too large, at only about five inches in diameter.
If you prefer napa cabbage, ‘One Kilo Slow Bolt’ says it all.
The tight heads are medium-large, weighing around two pounds, with white and green leaves with yellow leaves on the interior. And, yes, the plants are slow to bolt.
When you have selected your container or containers, you can start preparing to plant.
If you are reusing a container, make sure to clean it thoroughly to avoid the spread of disease. Use a 10 percent bleach solution (one part bleach to nine parts water) or hot, soapy water.
If you like, you can put mesh screens over the drainage holes to help the soil stay in place.
Just keep in mind that screens can tend to clog up, so you must keep a close eye on the holes to ensure that water is still moving through freely.
Don’t put a layer of drainage material like rocks or broken clay at the bottom. This actually holds water closer to the roots thanks to something known as the perched water table.
Fill the container to about an inch below the rim with water-retentive potting soil.
Cabbage plants aren’t too fussy, so you can use any medium formulated for potted plants, but for my vegetables I always use FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Mix.
It’s made from lots of good stuff, like bat guano, crab meal, forest humus, and sphagnum moss. You can find 12-quart bags available at Amazon.
Propagation and Planting
Now that everything is set and ready to go, it’s time to plant. You have two options, here.
The first is to transplant seedlings. You can either purchase these or start them yourself indoors about six to eight weeks before the last average frost date.
If you’re growing a fall crop, you’ll need to start seeds 12 to 14 weeks ahead of first frost.
Dig a hole in the potting soil that is about the same size as the growing container. Gently remove the plant from the pot and loosen up the roots a bit. Lower it into the hole that you dug and firm the soil up around it.
Water the soil well. It will probably settle a little bit, which is fine. If it does, add a bit more soil. You want the seedling sitting at about the same depth as it was in the growing container.
If you’d rather start seeds directly in the pot, that’s fine, too. The basic rules of planting cabbage seeds apply here.
You need to start them early enough in the year that they have time to mature while the temperatures are still fairly cool.
Depending on the cultivar, that means about 65 days under 80°F or so. That’s why most gardeners grow cabbage in the spring and fall, and sometimes winter.
If you need to, choose a small enough container that you can keep it indoors or in a greenhouse while it’s still cold and move it out when the weather warms up a bit.
Container Care
Outdoors, choose a location in full sun, with six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. In very hot climates, you’ll need to provide some afternoon shade to prevent the plants from bolting.
You could put up shade cloth, but the solution doesn’t need to be fancy. I use umbrellas sometimes. Whatever works, right?
You’ll need to provide an inch or two of water per week in the absence of rain. Use a rain gauge to determine how much water they are receiving or just use your finger to check the soil.
If the soil is dry up to the first knuckle, it’s time to water. The goal is to have the soil feel like a well-wrung-out sponge at all times.
When you water, irrigate at soil level and try to avoid wetting the leaves. Cabbages can trap water in their leaves which can result in rot or fungal problems.
Cabbage is a heavy feeder, and since plants in containers are totally reliant on the gardener for nutrients, you’ll definitely need to feed them.
Assuming you used fresh, new potting soil, there should be enough nutrients in place to sustain the young plants.
Wait until the heads are just starting to form and then side dress with a mild vegetable fertilizer every two weeks.
Cabbage needs a lot of nitrogen, so choose a fertilizer formulated for leafy vegetables. I like to use Grow Big from FoxFarm as it has an NPK ratio of 6-4-4, ideal for vegetables.
You can find Grow Big available via Amazon in gallon-sized concentrate, enough to feed your container garden all summer long.
If you are a very attentive gardener, you may wish to prune your cabbage. This is entirely optional, but it’s a good idea to do so if you notice any damaged or diseased leaves.
Pruning the outer leaves once the head has started forming can encourage the plant to put more energy into the inner leaves, creating a tight head.
Do you only have a small patio? Or maybe you move a lot like I did? Perhaps you ran out of garden space? No matter, there’s no reason you can’t grow cabbage anyway.
What’s your set-up like? Are you growing a few potted plants in the big city? Or just expanding your garden space? Let us know in the comments section below.
DAYTON, OH—Insisting that it worked every time, local parents Lewis and Dawn Ladin tricked their child into eating more vegetables Wednesday by hitting him if he didn’t eat his vegetables. “I’ve found the best way to dupe my kid into eating healthy is to clobber him if he refuses,” said Lewis Ladin, claiming that sneakily smacking his son in the back of the head never failed to get the child to scarf down a full serving of broccoli. “If he’s being particularly finicky about having his greens, sometimes I like to hide cauliflower in a sock and wail on him with that. Now he begs to eat spinach rather than endure the thrashing.” At press time, Ladin told his son that eating his Brussels sprouts was essential for growing up big and strong enough to fight back.
