Grow your own cabbage steaks

Lately I have been hearing a lot about cabbage steaks, a side dish made with sliced cabbage. Then, during this past Easter dinner, a guest brought cabbage steaks and I finally had a chance to sample it.

It is a very simple dish to make. The basic idea is to cut a head of cabbage vertically, north to south, in one inch thick slices so that the shape and size resembles that of a steak.

The pieces are then seasoned in various ways then roasted in an oven or on an outdoor grill using a vegetable grilling pan.

The cabbage steaks we had for Easter dinner were drizzled with olive oil and a few simple seasonings. They were delicious.

I did a quick search online and found all kinds of variations from simple to complex.

While any kind of cabbage will work for cabbage steaks, it occurred to me that flat head cabbage varieties would be even better because their flat profile would allow for easier slicing and more uniform slices.

Flat head cabbage is rarely found in a typical supermarket produce section or even a farmers market. So if you want to use them, you'll most likely have to grow your own. Fortunately, cabbage is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. “Easy to grow” is a phrase overused in garden blogs, but in the case of cabbage, it is true.

Greenhouses and garden centers sometimes sell flat head cabbage seedlings, but more often than not, they are sold out early or not available at all.

That leaves us with growing the seedlings ourselves from seed. There is no difference at all between starting flat head cabbage and regular round cabbage.

We have stacks of used seed starting trays and cell pack dividers that we use and clean up to use year after year, so that is what we use for sowing seeds. Any container that is suitable for growing plants can be used to start the seeds however.

In a cell pack, sow two seeds one quarter of an inch deep per cell. In a tray, sow 2 or 3 seeds per inch in a row.

Cabbage seeds have a very high germination rate, close to 100%. The seeds go a long way and give you ample opportunity to select the strongest seedlings for growing and transplanting and dispose of the rest.

For quickest germination, keep the containers with the newly sown seeds at around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the new seedlings emerge from the soil, lower the growing temperature to around 60 degrees. Cabbage grows best under cool conditions.

The growing cabbage plants will require direct lighting, either from a bright south-facing window or under grow lights.

Feed the seedlings with soluble fertilizer every couple of weeks or so. They should be ready to move outdoors to the garden in about four to six weeks.

Set the transplants into fertile garden soil about 12 to 18 inches apart in rows with additional rows being 18 to 36 inches apart from each other. Smaller varieties may be planted closer together while larger varieties will need more room to grow.

To get the new plants off to a good start, give them a shot of soluble starter fertilizer at planting time. Because cabbage plants are heavy feeders, they will need to be fertilized every couple weeks or so, especially if the garden soil is low in nutrients.

Outdoors in the garden, cabbage worms are the greatest threat to cabbage. These common pests are caterpillars that feed on the leaves causing extensive damage if left alone. But they can easily be controlled with conventional or organic insecticides especially if caught early.

Faster maturing cabbage can be ready to harvest in as little as 60 days while other varieties can take as long as 100 days. Check the seed packet to get an idea when you can to expect to harvest.

To get a bonus crop, don’t pull up the plants by the roots, instead cut the heads off with a knife. By leaving the roots intact, new mini cabbages will grow from the stumps.

To help ease rising food prices, cabbage could turn out to be a great inflation fighter. It makes sense that versatile cabbage steaks would be a great way to stretch a family's food budget since cabbage is so affordable, even if you have to buy them.

Whatever the case may be, most gardeners agree that homegrown cabbage is better!