Last edited on October 18, 2019. View history
Savoy Cabbage
A variety of cabbage
How to sow Savoy cabbage: Direct seed indoors (and harden seedlings off before transplanting) or outdoors (and thin plants to 35cm when 4 cm high)
Sun requirement for Savoy cabbage: Plant in Full Sun
Savoy is a variety of cabbage with deep green crinkled leaves. It's crunchy, tender leaves can be eaten raw in salads and coleslaw or cooked in stir-fry, casserole, and soup. Like all cabbages, it prefers cool weather.
- 2
- plantings
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- harvests
- 2
- seed packets
Savoy cabbage facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
35cm × 30cmRow Spacing
35cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Savoy cabbage, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 750 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Savoy cabbage will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Savoy cabbages
- Sow seeds in trays 5 weeks before planting out
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before planting out
- Harden off the seedlings 1 week before planting out
- Firm the soil well around the stems at planting out
- Net against cabbage white butterflies at planting out
- Set or refill beer traps for slugs and snails at planting out every week
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Check leaves for caterpillars 2 weeks after planting out every week
- Feed with a nitrogen fertiliser 4 weeks after planting out
- Cut heads once they feel firm at first harvest
- Pull out the stalks 4 weeks after first harvest
How members grow Savoy cabbages
Sunniness
Planted from
Plant Savoy cabbages with
cucumber
blue lake bean
Video
Where Savoy cabbages grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about Savoy cabbages
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Who's planted Savoy cabbages
- Lizardlicks Seed Tray · Spokane, WA
- neotoma Holli's house · Silver Spring, MD
Savoy cabbage harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 60 to 200 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Brassica oleracea var. capitata L. [Alef.]
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Capparales Cruciferae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -1 °C, rest: -10 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial |
| Habit | acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about Savoy cabbages
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