When to harvest cabbage in the country and why wait for 0 ° C? I list 4 sure signs of the optimal time. Do not fail year after year

Fiery fireworks, comrades vegetable growers!

Finally, the garden epic comes to an end. Before you rest for a month or two and start looking forward to the new season, you still need to reap the results of your labor. The same cabbage is an eyesore. I am telling you how to determine the readiness of heads of cabbage for harvesting - signs that do not fail.

Why bother with the timing of harvesting cabbage at all: it seems to be ready

The task of the thoughtful gardener is to cut down the cabbage at the peak of her strength. Heads of cabbage, harvested on time, are perfectly stored. Thanks to their excellent taste and juiciness, they will make dishes tastier, and also full of vitamins and useful macro- and microelements.

It's a completely different matter - unripe cabbage. There is no need to wait from heads of cabbage harvested ahead of time. Loose, they begin to rot ahead of time and often inside. Such a harvest is good only for cooking "Here and Now".

Advice: When harvesting cabbage, be sure to leave 3-5 cm hemp with the head. This significantly extends the shelf life.

Cabbage left in the garden for longer than the term does not show good taste and, again, start quicklyt rot. As soon as she grabs the frost, irreversible changes occur in the head of cabbage. A fertile environment for the ubiquitous bacteria and fungi, which are already abundant in our beds in late autumn.

Note: Do not delay cleaning. White cabbage can withstand lowering the thermometer to -5 ° C, not lower.

• Early and mid-ripening cabbage varieties are traditionally removed from the garden in September.
• The finest hour of late-ripening varieties comes later - in October.

Signs of readiness of white cabbage for harvesting

Since September, I have been carefully examining the cabbage beds. An unambiguous signal that soon you will have to cut to the root is:

• The density of the head of cabbage. Worth push the cabbage on topto feel: inside everything is tightly packed with leaves. If the fingers fall through, leaving dents, then this means: the crop has not yet reached the desired condition. We must, comrades, wait a little longer.
• The edges of the upper leaves go in "waves": bend and twist. In this case, the main part tightly hugs the head of cabbage. It looks like this:

• The readiness of the cabbage for harvesting will be indicated by top leaf color. They become lighter and may even take on a slight bluish tint or silver sheen.
• A completely different picture is observed in lower leaves: they turn yellow and begin to fade slowly. A sure sign: the cabbage will soon be cut down!

I grow late varieties of cabbage, and some heads of cabbage for a couple of weeks, and they will start asking for a knife. I really hope that a cold snap will come. If cabbage stands at least overnight at temperatures ranging from 0 to -5 ° C, then its taste will improve.. I read a long time ago that late cabbage gets sweeter.