Portuguese Cabbage (Caldo Verde)

DESCRIPTION

A favourite vegetable of Portugal, Caldo Verde looks more like collard greens or kale than a typical cabbage, as it grows a taller stalk instead of forming a low head. The dark green leaves are very broad, like regular cabbage leaves, and taste very sweet and mild. .

POT CARE AND PLANTING

Cabbage is easy to care for in a pot temporarily, but you won't get the best harvest from it - transplant into a larger pot or a garden bed within 7 days. Soil level should be 1mm below the start of the lowest leaves.

WATERING

This variety of cabbage is a medium water consumer - water it an average amount, once per day (early morning or late afternoon is best in summer).

SUN EXPOSURE

Cabbage needs as much sun as possible to flourish. I recommend planting it in an open and sunny area of the garden.

COMPANION PLANTING

This variety has broad leaves and gets about 40cm wide, and will grow up to 60cm tall at first. If you don't harvest the flowering stems before the flowers open, they will eventually double the height of the plant. Brassicas will grow best close to amaranths, apiums, asters, alliums, and other brassicas - leaving enough space for the largest plants to expand. Try to plant other things in between your brassicas to confuse pests- plants in this family can be well protected from attack by the Cabbage White butterfly using a number of companion planting techniques - see "Growing your food" for more. Allowing brassicas to flower during the winter provides habitat for beneficial insects and helps to maintain the presence of pollinators during the colder months.

HARVESTING AND EATING

The leaves, stem, and flowers of this cabbage can be eaten at different times, and all parts have a mild and very sweet flavour. In the early stages, the leaves can be eaten raw as a baby green, as long as a good amount of leaves are still left on the plant. Later on, as the plant gets taller and forms an open head, you can harvest the mature leaves, which are better shredded raw, or cooked - steamed as a side, used to make kale chips, or added to stewed and stir fried dishes as a tasty green. When the plant gets big enough to start producing a flower spike, water it extra for a few days to encourage the stem to swell up and develop a cloudy looking coating, as the cabbage flowers get closer to opening. At this point, you can use your fingers to find the lowest point on the flower stem where it will snap instead of bending - this is your first stem harvest, and you can cook it the same way as the leaves. Water it some more and enjoy the more tender leaves while you wait for more flowering stalks to grow from the same plant. Harvest them the same way until the season ends, or leave some in place to produce seed for you. The flowers can still be eaten after they open, but less of the stem will be tender, and the pollen has a mustardy flavour. The seeds are suitable for microgreen sprouting and will taste very mild.

SEED SAVING AND PROPAGATION

If you let the flowers open and leave the stems on the plant, eventually they'll produce branches loaded with tiny pods full of seeds that are super easy to save and propagate. They'll take a few weeks to finish their life cycle, but when you see that the flowering stem is starting to die back, cut it off and dry it whole in a paper bag. Shake and crunch the pods in the bag to release the seeds and discard the larger bits of plant material - these seeds will be good for up to 6 years. You can re-sow your own crop right away, or save your cabbage seeds over the winter in something airtight. They're super easy to germinate - simply cover with about 10mm of soil and keep moist, when daytime temperatures are above about 12 degrees.t as they start to get bigger, so that the strongest ones can have more space.