Cabbage

Soil Preparation
Cabbages will grow in all kinds of soils, though the varieties that are ready for use in spring prefer a lighter soil, which warms up quickly after the turn of the year and encourages the roots to grow earlier.
Cabbage is a heavy feeder, so spread plenty of manure in the bed at the rate of a bucketful to the sq. yd. make sure that the soil is not acid; apply carbonate of lime at 5 oz. (150g) to the sq. yd. unless the soil is chalky. The optimum pH is 6 to 6.5, greater than 7 the disease club root can take hold.
Because they are a hungry crop, taking up a lot of nitrogen and potassium, it should be given frequent top-dressing of nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia or dried blood at the rate of ½ oz. (15g) per plant. Cabbage has shallow roots, so cultivation should be shallow. To ensure that the roots are kept cool and moist a thick mulch is an excellent way of doing this and it will help to keep down weeds.

Sowing
A semi-shady seedbed is best that has been treaded after raking, then raked once more; scratch out drills ½ in. (12mm) deep and 6 in. (15cm) apart. Fertility for cabbages is relatively high so the seed should be sown thinly and a rake used to cover them up; the top should then be firmed with a rake head.

PlantingPlants grown as transplants may be planted out into beds that has been well watered the day before. With a dibber make rows of holes in the planting-out area 1 ½ ft. (45cm) apart, leaving 1 ft. (30cm) between the holes in each row. General Care Hoe between the rows to keep down the weeds. For those types grown over winter, should the soil be heavy, make a 4 in. (101mm) furrow between the rows to take away excess moisture.