Cabbage

Meet cabbage, the solid one. A seedling planted in November looks like not much for a month, then folds its inner leaves into a heart and, by January, swells into a firm, pale-green head.

Its character is steady and solid. It does not mind cool nights, and it asks only for rich soil, regular water and a watch for caterpillars. It is the brassica for gardeners who want a crop they do not have to fuss over.

What it brings is a heavy crop from a small bed, and the base for a winter's cooking, from slaw to stir-fries. Red and green types share the bed, and a few plants planted a few weeks apart spread the cutting through the season.

Cabbage is the sturdiest of the heading brassicas for a Dubai bed. The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment's calendar gives nursery sowing from September to December, field planting from October to December, and harvest 70 to 80 days later. BBC Good Food Middle East's UAE guide gives the widest window, October to March. UF/IFAS says cabbage transplants well, and gives 70 to 90 days from transplants to a heading cabbage (85 to 110 from seed). Seed started in shaded trays in October and planted out in November is cut from January to March.

UF/IFAS says cold temperatures will not kill cabbage plants, though frost can damage the leaves, and Dubai's coldest monthly mean low, in January, is 15.3°C. The limit is the other end: the Ministry's field window closes in December, and UF/IFAS's advice for the same family is to plant early enough to mature before warm weather arrives. Dubai's mean high is 24 to 27°C from December to February, 28.9°C in March and 33.7°C in April, so plan to cut the last heads by March. Give the plants room: UF/IFAS spaces heading cabbage 9 to 16 inches (23 to 40 cm) apart in rows 24 inches (60 cm) apart.

Water in the early morning so the leaves dry in the sun, which UF/IFAS says helps prevent common fungal diseases and matches DEWA's early-morning rule. Scout often for caterpillars: UF/IFAS names the larvae of the cabbage white butterfly, and Arizona desert data show diamondback moths arriving on the wind each autumn to infest brassicas. Black rot, which stunts plants and blackens the leaf veins, is avoided by buying clean plants. FAO rates cabbage as moderately sensitive to salt, with a threshold of 1.8 dS/m, so use mains water and a low-salinity soil mix rather than the garden's salty sand.