Brassica oleracea var. acephala
DESCRIPTION
Dark blue-green and curly leaves that are as beautiful as they are tasty. Makes an incredibly effective feature in the flowerbed. Enjoy raw in a salad or why not chop and sauté in olive oil with flaked salt. A heritage variety dating back to the 19th century. Frost-resistant.
HEIGHT: 75 CM
COLOR: BLUE-GREEN
GROWING POSITION: SUN
SEEDS/BAG: C 50 PCS
PRE-CULTIVATION
SOWING TIME: MARCH-MAY
SOWING DEPTH: 1 CM
GROOMING TIME: 5-15 DGR
FINAL PLANTING
PLANT SPACING: 40 CM
ROW SPACING: 50 CM
HARVEST FESTIVAL: 4-5 MONTHS AFTER SOWING
GROWING AND HARVESTING BLACK CABBAGE
Growing location : Black cabbage develops best in a sunny location with more than 6-7 hours of sun/day.
AT SOWING
Sow black cabbage indoors in March-May depending on how early a harvest you want. Place the briquette in lukewarm water and let it swell. Place on a dish or growing tray. Stick a seed about 1 cm into the growing briquette and cover the seed with some of the briquette's coconut fibers. It can also be sown in smaller pots filled with seeding soil.
Mark the seeds with markers. Write the variety and date on the seeds to keep track of what was grown and when.
Cover the seeds with a transparent cover with air holes. Tip – use a greenhouse with a plastic lid and place a capillary mat in the bottom to provide an even and good water supply. Place on a heating floor or heating mat for extra fast germination.
Water regularly with lukewarm water throughout the season – the seeds should always be moist!
1-2 WEEKS AFTER SOWING
Provide light. As soon as the seed has germinated and emerged, usually after 5-15 days, it needs a lot of light. Remove the cover and place in a bright and cooler place.
RETRAINING
Replant the plant when it has 4 leaves, to give it more space. Plant it in a pot measuring approximately 10x10 cm, which is filled with nutritious soil. To get sturdy plants, cabbage can be planted slightly deeper in the soil when replanting and transplanting. Here the plant can then grow before it is time to transplant.
FINAL PLANTING
Harden off when the risk of frost is over, which means slowly accustoming the plant to life outdoors . Start with an hour or so each day and gradually increase the time outdoors. Avoid direct sunlight, which is too strong for the tender leaves. After a week or so, it is ready for permanent life outdoors.
Plant the plant in its growing location, for example in the open field or on a pallet collar, with 40 cm plant spacing and 50 cm row spacing in nutrient-rich planting soil. See below for more information on how to prepare the growing location.
Provide water and nutrition . Black cabbage has a great need for water and nutrition. Therefore, make sure to continuously provide nutrition in the form of manure - see more information here about fertilizer Fertilizer - New Botanic
Protect . Unfortunately, caterpillars from various types of butterflies love cabbage. The best protection is to cover the crop with cabbage netting to keep the bugs away.
Harvesting . Harvest the outer leaves as soon as the plant has grown (around September) and continue harvesting throughout the fall and even into the winter. Black cabbage is also frost-resistant.
PREPARE EXISTING GROWING SITE
Clear weeds and loosen the soil with a hoe, 20-30 cm deep.
Fertilize. Mix the soil with fertilizer, e.g. pelleted chicken manure or vegetable fertilizer. Dose according to the information on the packaging. You can also fertilize with well-rotted manure from e.g. horse or cow. Cow manure can also be purchased in bags and dosed according to the instructions on the bag. For well-rotted manure from stables: 1-3 liters/m2 (depending on the amount of litter in the manure and how well it is well-rotted).
Improve the soil. For extra good structure, you can add compost, bark mulch or biochar. The advantage of well-rotted manure is that it also adds structure and humus to the soil. If you use pelleted manure, make sure to improve the soil extra.
PREPARE NEW GROWING SITE/PALLET COLLAR/POT
Grow in pallet collars. A standard pallet collar, 80x120 cm, holds about 200 l. For most crops, 2 pallet collars on top of each other are sufficient. Recipe for soil for a double pallet collar: 5 bags of potting soil, 2 bags of cow manure, 1 bag of biochar .
