Red cabbage - what size and how long to leave it?

[dan1979]

After a poor growing season I don't want to lose anything else but it's on the small side at the moment in terms of eating.

The head is about 3.5 inches across at the moment which seems a bit small for eating.

Night times are temps are foretasted about 12° for the next week or so so can I leave it in the ground until the temps start dropping?

[SarzWix]

They should be fine in the ground for a little while yet, 12°c isn't that cold - tomatoes are ok down to around 5°c, so I should think the cabbages will be too.

[amandaandherveg]

It was 2 degrees here the other night, can't believe the frost is coming so soon.

My red cabbage is hearting up but not as far on as yours Dan1979. I'm going to try and leave them as long as I can, I have noticed the caterpillars don't seem to like the red ones as much as the green.

[dan1979]

That's good to know, thanks - just want it to be worthy of a Sunday lunch.

I had quite a lot of caterpillars on it at one point, possibly because I attracted them all with cauliflower. Haven't seen any in a few weeks so hopefully all gone now, they were taking huge chunks out of it and breeding like crazy.