Seeds (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

Baladi cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) is the familiar round, tightly wrapped head loved in Egyptian kitchens. Its crisp, smooth, pale-green leaves peel away in broad, flexible sheets — exactly what you want for rolling traditional stuffed mahshi, while the mild, faintly sweet flavour also shines in slaws, soups and warm winter dishes. Cut open, the head is dense and solid right through to the pale heart, giving you generous, sturdy leaves with every harvest.

Planting

Cabbage is a cool-season crop, so plan its life around the cooler months. When starting in modules or indoors, sow the seed about 1 cm deep; when sowing outdoors in a drill, set it a little deeper at about 2 cm. The ideal soil temperature for germination is around 10-29 C — at 25 C seedlings emerge in roughly 6 days, at 20 C in about 9 days, and at 15 C in around 15 days. Indoors, normal room temperature of about 16-21 C with bright light gives the best early growth. Seeds are typically started indoors about 4-6 weeks before transplanting in early spring, or sown directly for a fall crop. Move seedlings outdoors after about five weeks, once they stand 10-15 cm tall with five or six true leaves. Choose a sunny site — cabbage grows best in full sun but tolerates light shade for part of the day. Space compact varieties about 30 cm apart and larger ones up to 45 cm apart, in rows roughly 60-75 cm apart.

Fertilizing

Feed with a nitrogen-rich fertiliser once the plants have settled into their final position, but before they begin to form heads. As a guide, side-dress with nitrogen about 2-3 weeks after transplanting when the plants are well established — roughly 0.34 kg of urea (46-0-0) per 30 m of row. Go easy on nitrogen late in the season, as a heavy late feed can cause the heads to split.

Care

Give cabbage about 2.5-4 cm of water per week; during dry spells, established plants do well with a thorough soaking roughly every 10 days. If you raised spring cabbages closely in a seedbed at about 10 cm apart, thin them later to around 30 cm so each plant has room to fill out. Watch for the common pests — cabbage caterpillars (imported cabbageworm, cabbage looper and diamondback moth), cabbage root fly, flea beetles, mealy cabbage aphid, whitefly, and slugs and snails — and stay alert to the main diseases: clubroot, black rot and Alternaria leaf spot. Harvest when the head is firm and has reached a usable size, cutting with a sharp knife once it feels solid and its base measures about 10-25 cm across. Cabbage matures in roughly 60-100 days from transplanting, or about 70-120 days from seed, depending on the variety.