Cabbage Stir Fry

Time to see if this Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage is ready to eat:

Sliced it open, it is not filled out as I would have liked or expected – the head did feel pretty firm when I squeezed it before harvest.

This tiny cabbage still made a very good stir fry, with an entire onion and garden garlic thrown in. I always like to use some sesame seed oil when stir frying – it has such a nice smoky way about it. We added Kikoman stir fry sauce and served it on La Choy chow mein noodles. (It was half eaten when I remembered to take a pic – Blog life!) This may not be the best pic, but the stuff was very good. It is the first time I stir fried only cabbage, but only because all of the other goodies like squash and peppers aren’t done yet, or even planted for that matter.

The Winter Garden Grows On

It looks like this winter we will not have the deadly freezes of last year.  It is mid February and we haven’t had the below-freezing temps for days on end.  Last year it devastated the crops.  I had planned to build a hoop house out of one of my 4′ x 28′ raised beds, but I never had to actually put them up.  I expect to have to in a year or so since we are entering a mini-ice age.

Most of the broccoli has been harvested.  This is the last big head.

Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage, the head should mature at 2-4 lbs, (the heads are cone shaped) and in 60-75 days after transplant:

Ruby Perfection red cabbage, the head matures at about 3 lbs, and in about 75 days after transplant:

Flat Dutch Cabbage, these should mature at 8 lbs. This is a late cabbage, meaning it takes longer to mature. In this case, that is 85-95 days after transplant:

Different varieties of cabbages have different looking leaves, of course, but I haven’t grown enough varieties often enough to have memorized their leaves. I am also growing a dozen -plus Golden Acre cabbages. They should come in at about 2 lbs, just like grocery store variety cabbages.  They quite frankly aren’t as fascinating as Early Jersey Wakefield or Flat Dutch cabbages.