When to Plant Cabbage
Planting Window - Start indoors + transplant
- Start indoors
- 6-8 weeks before last frost
- Transplant outdoors
- 2-4 weeks before last frost
| USDA Zone | Typical Window |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 and colder | Transplant April, plus July for a fall crop |
| Zone 6-7 | Transplant March, plus July-August |
| Zone 8 and up | Wide window; grows well as a fall-through-winter crop |
Cabbage is genuinely more forgiving than its close relatives broccoli and cauliflower - it tolerates a wider range of temperature stress without the same premature-heading or poor-curd problems, and like several root crops on this site, its flavor actually improves after a real frost.
Starting Seeds Indoors
Start cabbage seed indoors 6-8 weeks before your last frost date, similar to broccoli and cauliflower - young seedlings tolerate cool conditions well, and cabbage is generally less prone to the buttoning-style overreaction to cold stress that makes cauliflower timing so much fussier.
Transplanting Outdoors
Transplant two to four weeks before your last frost date - cabbage handles a fairly hard frost once established, more so than most other brassicas on this site, which gives some real flexibility on the early end of the transplant window compared to the narrower timing cauliflower rewards.
Storage Varieties Run a Longer, Different Timeline
Fast summer cabbage varieties mature in as little as 60 days, but dedicated storage (keeper) varieties, bred for dense heads that hold well through winter in cold storage, often need 90-100 days or more and are typically planted specifically for a fall harvest timed just before hard frost, rather than for a quick summer crop.
Cabbage Splits If Left Too Long After Maturity
A mature cabbage head left in the garden too long, especially after heavy rain following a dry spell, is prone to splitting open from the sudden internal pressure of rapid water uptake - harvesting promptly once a head feels solid, rather than waiting indefinitely for it to get even larger, avoids losing a mature head to splitting right before you planned to cut it.
A Real Flavor Improvement From Frost
Similar to carrots, kale, and brussels sprouts, cabbage sweetens measurably after exposure to cool fall temperatures and light frost, converting some stored starch to sugar - fall-harvested cabbage intended for storage benefits from staying in the garden through at least one good frost before it's cut, rather than being harvested at the first sign of cold weather.
Zone boundaries follow the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023 revision); frost windows reflect NOAA/NCEI climate normals. Both are typical historical ranges, reviewed annually - not a forecast or a guarantee for any single year. See Methodology & Sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
How hard a frost can cabbage actually survive in the garden?
Mature cabbage tolerates a fairly hard frost, often into the mid-20s Fahrenheit for short periods, considerably better than broccoli or cauliflower manage at the same stage - it's one of the most cold-tolerant heading brassicas covered on this site once it's established.
How do I figure out when to start storage cabbage seed so it's ready right around my first fall frost?
Count backward from your area's typical first fall frost date using the variety's full days-to-maturity, which for storage types runs 90-100 days or more from transplant, then subtract the 6-8 week indoor head start cabbage needs before that. In a zone 6-7 garden that backward math often lands the seed-starting date in early-to-mid summer, well after most gardeners have already finished starting cabbage for the year.
My cabbage head already split before I could harvest it - is it still worth eating, or should I toss it?
It's worth eating if you catch it soon - a split head is fine to use right away, since the problem is mechanical (the leaves cracking under internal pressure) rather than rot or disease. What it can't do is sit in the garden any longer, since the open crack is now an easy entry point for pests and decay, so treat a split head as one to cut and use immediately rather than leaving it to see if it recovers.