Succession planting involves planting a new crop immediately after harvesting the previous one from the same space, maximizing garden productivity. Cabbage, a member of the Brassica family, is a heavy feeder that draws substantial nutrients from the soil. Choosing the successor crop is important for maintaining long-term soil health and preventing pest and disease cycles.
Understanding Cabbage’s Legacy: Soil Needs and Disease Risk
Cabbage plants require high amounts of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, which is incorporated into their large, leafy mass. This vigorous feeding significantly depletes nitrogen in the soil, leaving the bed less fertile. Adequate calcium is also required; a deficiency can restrict the plant’s ability to absorb water and affect head formation.
The most significant constraint after a cabbage harvest is the risk of soil-borne pathogens and pests specific to the Brassica family. Cabbage can leave behind spores for diseases such as Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae), which can survive in the soil for many years. These pathogens will infect any other Brassica crop planted in the same location, causing stunted growth and root deformities.
The absolute rule of crop rotation is to never plant another member of the Brassica family immediately after cabbage. This includes broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts. Allowing a minimum of three to four years before replanting a Brassica in the same spot helps reduce the population of lingering pathogens. Choosing a crop from a completely different family is necessary to break the disease cycle.
Ideal Successors: Nitrogen Fixers and Root Vegetables
The best plants to follow cabbage are those that either replenish depleted nutrients or require low soil fertility. Legumes are the primary choice for soil replenishment because they are nitrogen fixers. These plants, including bush beans and peas, host rhizobia bacteria in nodules on their roots.
The bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by plants, effectively enriching the soil for the next planting cycle. Leaving the roots of harvested peas or beans in the soil, rather than pulling them out, allows the fixed nitrogen to be slowly released as the roots decompose. Bush varieties of beans are particularly suitable as a succession crop because they have a faster maturity rate than pole beans.
Root vegetables are another excellent choice because they generally have moderate nutrient requirements and do not belong to the Brassica family. Crops like carrots and parsnips focus their growth underground and have different nutrient uptake patterns than leafy greens. Beets and radishes are also ideal, with radishes having a very short maturity cycle, allowing for another crop rotation quickly after their harvest.
Other suitable choices are light feeders with shallow root systems, which do not compete for the same deep soil resources as the cabbage. Lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens are perfect for this role, especially as they have a quick turnaround time. These quick-growing crops can be harvested and followed by yet another succession crop before the end of the season.
Timing Your Next Planting: Seasonal Considerations
The choice of successor crop is heavily dependent on the time of year the cabbage was harvested. A spring harvest, which typically occurs in late spring or early summer, opens up the bed for warm-weather crops. Planting bush beans or summer squash is appropriate at this time, as the soil has warmed sufficiently for their growth.
Cabbage harvested in mid-summer requires a quick-maturing, cool-weather crop that will be ready before the first frost. Short-season varieties of beets, spinach, or late-season lettuce can be planted for a fall harvest. These crops will benefit from the slightly cooling temperatures of late summer and early autumn.
If the cabbage is harvested in late fall, the best course of action is to plant a cover crop rather than a food crop. Cover crops like buckwheat, winter rye, or clover protect the soil from erosion over the winter months. These plants also suppress weeds and, when tilled into the soil in the spring, they add beneficial organic matter and further replenish nutrients.