Grow Cabbage in Winter - 25 Varieties

I decided to grow 17 varieties of cabbage in winter one year.

At the peak of winter, it's important to adapt the work we do in our gardens. Some choose to simply put their garden life on pause and take a well-needed break when there's plenty of snow outside. Others find new and intricate little ways to keep on growing. Pre-cultivating plants in pots is one great suggestion for the season. It's the perfect task to do when the weather allows it.

Winter sowing is a smart method to get many plants going at the same time without having to take care of them indoors. But when there's a lot of snow in the garden, it's of course a lot more difficult to direct-sow. So, winter sowing in some type of pre-cultivation spot is ideal.

Cabbage is probably the vegetable that is best suited to sow outdoors in winter. If you want to try to grow cabbage in winter, now is the time!

Read more: Growing pointed cabbage

The kale variety 'Midnight Sun' is the perfect choice for a winter sowing.

'Jagallo Nero' is another delicious variety of kale with long leaves.

'Emerald Ice' is a beautiful kale variety with white and green leaves.

Direct-sow or pre-cultivate

Most cabbage varieties can be pre-cultivated, even in winter. Pre-cultivating basically means that you start your plants in a different spot than they will end up in. We can for example start by sowing our seeds in pots, plugs or trays. When the plants have grown an inch or so, we transplant them once or twice before we plant the seedlings in their final spot.

Cabbage is perfect for pre-cultivation, because most varieties need a lot of space once they go into the beds. Some plants need a foot or so between them (around 30 cm), simply because they grow so big when fully developed. If you were to sow them at the correct spacing directly in the bed, it would be awkward and inefficient: hard to keep track of each seed over a large area, tricky to weed and water, and honestly unnecessary to tend to a whole big area when only a few plants are actually growing there.

Pre-cultivating cabbage gives you strong, healthy plants that get a much better start once they are planted out. If the soil is warm, you can usually transplant them 2–8 weeks after sowing, depending on the variety and how large you want the plants to be.

Read more: 10 cabbage varieties and how to use them

Newly harvested in June 2025.

'One Kilo SB' produces a nice yield from early sowings. This plant was harvested from a hotbed in my polytunnel, planted in mid-February.

Lovely kohlrabi.

Look at these beautiful Brussel sprouts! Delicious

Grow cabbage in winter - Suggestions

Here is a list of different kinds of cabbage that can be started outdoors during winter. As you can see, the list is long  and the chances of great results are high!

- Cauliflower
- Romanesco
- Broccoli
- Broccolini
- Broccolo
- Brokali (a cross between kale and broccoli)
- Brussels sprouts
- Kale
- Komatsuna
- Kohlrabi
- Rutabaga
- Turnip
- Mizuna
- Pak choi
- Ornamental cabbage
- Purple kale
- Red cabbage
- Savoy cabbage
- Chinese cabbage
- Mustard greens
- Pointed cabbage
- Black kale
- Tatsoi
- Winter broccoli
- White cabbage

Read more: Q&A about napa cabbage

The cabbage we sow in winter can actually produce a long season in our garden if we choose the right varieties. Brussel sprouts is one great example. Photo: Maria Fors Östberg.

All you need to griw cabbage in winter is seeds, soil and some type of trough. I'm so happy that we still have homegrown cabbage from last year to eat too!

Read more: My lovely red cabbage

Favorite varieties

Over the years I’ve grown many kinds of cabbage, and they all work beautifully for outdoor winter sowing. If you’d like a few easy ones to start with, these are some of my favorites:

- Broccoli ‘Ramoso Calabrese’

- Broccoli ‘Hirza’ (long-stemmed)

- Pak choi ‘Arax’

- Pak choi ‘Joi Choi’

- Pak choi ‘Green Stem’

- Chinese cabbage ‘One Kilo SB’

- Savoy cabbage ‘Vertus 2’

- Pointed cabbage ‘Express’

- Pointed cabbage ‘Kalibos’

- Pointed cabbage ‘Jersey Wakefield’

- Black kale ‘Nero di Toscana’

- White cabbage ‘Sunta’

The big advantage of pre-cultivating cabbage with winter sowing is how easy it is to get lots of plants with very little effort or supervision. That also means you can afford to grow more varieties if you have the space. Even in a small garden, you can treat yourself to many kinds, just a few plants of each. And remember: cabbage is one of the true treasures of the kitchen garden. Very few vegetables offer such abundance over such a long season  and in such a wide variety of plants. Cabbage is nourishing food, filling food, endlessly versatile food, and incredibly fun to grow. Why not try to grow cabbage in winter at home?

/Sara at Skillnaden's