Best Cabbage Varieties for Scotland

The six cabbages recommended here aren't competing for the same job. One stands through the winter as a finished head, three spend the winter as small plants and crop in spring, and two are summer cabbages cut before winter. In Scotland the first question is which of those jobs you want done.

What Scotland means for the choice

Winter is the test, and the hardiness ratings follow each variety's job. Advantage is H6, hardy to about -20°C to -15°C. Tundra, Duncan and Winterjewel are H5, hardy through most of the UK to about -15°C to -10°C. Red Jewel is H3 (-5°C to 1°C) and Regency H2The RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition → (1°C to 5°C): both are cut before winter, so that doesn't count against them. The other Scottish factor is soil. Nearly half of Scottish farm soil samples tested by SRUC came back below pH 5.8, and clubroot thrives in acidic ground. The cabbage growing guide covers sowing, liming and protecting plants.

All six hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one.

Tundra, for winter

Tundra is the only winter cabbage here, and one of the hardiest. It's a Savoy type with "solid, round, sweet, crisp heads with an excellent flavour", harvested from October to February. It stands in the ground as a finished head, so you can cut one fresh in January. Keep standing brassicasThe cabbage family: cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, swede, turnip and more, sharing the same pests, diseases and rotation rules. Full definition → netted against pigeons through the winter.

Advantage, Duncan and Winterjewel, for spring

These three are sown in late summer or autumn and spend the winter as small plants. In spring you cut them as loose greens or leave them to heart up, which fills the hungry gap when little else is ready.

Advantage is the hardiest of the six, at H6, and the most flexible: "a very versatile crop that can provide a year-round harvest of 'spring' greens from successional sowings, or can be left to form a pointed heart the following spring". It's the one to choose on an exposed plot. Duncan gives a plentiful crop of small, pointed, mid-green heads, as greens in March or hearted in June. Winterjewel can be cut as spring greens or left to form loose hearts; it's the one variety whose listing warns it "may be susceptible to club rootA soil-borne fungal disease of the brassica family that swells and distorts roots, and survives in soil for years. Full definition →, particularly in acidic soil".

Because they spend the winter as young plants, spring cabbages are the ones at risk of bolting: a cold spell can make a young plant flower the following spring instead of forming a head.

Regency and Red Jewel, for summer

Regency forms "very uniform and compact hearts with a strong base and good standing ability", cropping from June to September. Red Jewel is the only red cabbage here, "one of the best red varieties", with "large, tightly packed hearts with crisp, ruby red leaves" from July to October. Both are sown and cleared in one season, so they take up the bed for months rather than most of a year.

Which one for your situation

• A cabbage to cut in January: Tundra.
• Spring greens on an exposed plot: Advantage.
• Spring greens on a sheltered plot: Advantage, Duncan or Winterjewel.
• Summer cabbage, or a bed you need back by autumn: Regency.
• Red cabbage: Red Jewel.

No variety here gets you around clubroot: all six list it as a problem. On acidic Scottish ground, liming the winter before planting and rotating brassicas are the defence, whichever you grow. All six also need the usual protection from cabbage white caterpillars and cabbage root fly.

Common questions

Sources