Cabbage · Washington, District of Columbia, United States
When to plant cabbages in Washington
Main outdoor window
13 Mar - 3 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
3 April
In Washington, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
22 May - 21 Jun
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Washington
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
6-27 Feb
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
28 Jun - 19 Jul
Counting back 114 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Plant out
13 Mar - 3 Apr
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
22 May - 21 Jun
Cabbages through the year
Against the frost risk in Washington
Why these dates
Spring cabbage sown in late summer and overwintered gives the earliest crop of the year. Summer and autumn types go in from an early indoor sowing.
Hardy to about -8C, and savoy types considerably lower. Young transplants handle frost far better than most gardeners expect.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Cabbages are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Washington.
The median frost-free season here is 221 days, against 70 to 100 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Nearby
Cabbages in places close by
Also in Washington
Other vegetables to time
Growing cabbages in Washington
When should I plant cabbages in Washington?
Aim for 13 Mar - 3 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Mar - 13 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cabbages be ready to harvest in Washington?
Expect to start picking around 22 May - 21 Jun, based on 70 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cabbages tolerate?
Hardy to about -8C, and savoy types considerably lower. Young transplants handle frost far better than most gardeners expect.