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When to plant Cabbage

Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.

Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.

Representative timing, by climate band

When to plant Cabbage in four US climates

Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.

Stage Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY 		Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN 		Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL 		Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL
Start seed indoors Mar 18–Apr 1 Feb 17–Mar 3 Jan 6–Jan 20 –
Direct-sow outside Not available Not available Not available –
Transplant outside Apr 8–Apr 22 Mar 10–Mar 24 Jan 27–Feb 10 –
Fall planting Aug 11–Sep 8 Sep 4–Oct 2 Nov 3–Dec 1 –
Expected harvest Jun 17–Jul 16 May 19–Jun 17 Apr 7–May 6 –

Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.

Cabbage transplants two to four weeks before your last frost, per Colorado State University Extension's hardy-crop rule (Fact Sheet 7.212). Purdue Extension's Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) puts the same hardy tier four to six weeks before frost, the same two-week gap between the two anchor sources seen in broccoli's rule; this page keeps Colorado State's window and states Purdue's separately rather than blending them.

Start seed indoors five to seven weeks ahead of your last frost. Soil should read 40°F at transplant time, a figure Colorado State and Purdue both state, independently and identically. Days to harvest run 70 to 85, combining Colorado State's 85 with NC State's 63 to 75 and Missouri Extension's 70 to 80, a spread that likely reflects different cabbage varieties as much as different growing conditions.

Cabbage also takes a fall crop, four to eight weeks before your first fall frost, per Purdue's fall list. Because cabbage is hardy, a cold-winter climate can set transplants out while frost is still a real possibility; a mild-winter climate shifts the same window earlier without changing the underlying rule.

Nurseries sell cabbage as transplants in six-packs for both the spring and fall windows, and as seed for growing your own starts five to seven weeks ahead of either planting date.

Frost hardiness

Hardy. Tolerates hard frost. Can go in the ground before the last frost date.

Minimum soil temperature

40°F

For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.

Days to maturity

70–85

Sourcing notes

From transplant. Same CSU/PURDUE hardy-window gap noted for broccoli applies here (CSU 2-4wk vs PURDUE 4-6wk before frost) - used CSU. DTM: CSU 85, NCSU 63-75, MOEXT 70-80 - combined range. CSU and PURDUE soil-temp minimums agree exactly at 40F. Fall figure per PURDUE's explicit list.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources