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the glory of Cabbage

As a gardener I swore off growing cabbage over three decades before now. I had tried every organic way I read or hear about to control the infamous cabbage worms – with no success. Finding creepy worms in the cabbage we wanted to make into sauerkraut took the joy out of an entire season of growing. I’ll admit I’m squeamish, I don’t like worms – even the good kind. I don’t like bugs other than lady bugs and bees (and those only from a distance). I can’t handle slugs and snails. The list goes on. So why do I garden? Yeah, that’s sometimes a mystery even to me.

But we loved cabbage, and I kept thinking I was missing something critical.  I continued searching for solutions and trying every organic trick I heard of – full of promises but never delivering.  Finally one day, I gave up.  I had given it my best shot, but decided it couldn’t be done without chemicals I had chosen not to use in our garden.  “No more cruciferous vegetables in our garden!”  It was a liberating feeling, free from disappointment, and I stuck to my guns for years.  Until now … …

Thirty years later, my new friend Kim Ross convinced me to try again – using her hoop and netting system – organically. No bugs, no cabbage worms, no chemicals, . . . . hmmm. I thought I’d heard it all, but I hadn’t tried THIS. I had trusted her in the past – she steered me right in the No-Til approach to gardening. If I was ever going to believe anyone about cabbage – it was going to be her, because she had repeated success with it.

left: view from outside the netting,
right side: view from the inside – images from Kim Ross’s garden

In 2025, I started cabbage plants by seed in March, and ordered some netting from her. Dan and I set out the plants and immediately covered them with the netting. The sun and rain came through the netting as promised, not a single fly or moth could find an opening. The cabbage grew big and beautiful. I was SOLD! I even had a couple broccoli plants in there. Equally beautiful. 100% pest free.

A whole new world opened up to me.

About five years before, I had made an exception to my rule for kale. I kept them separated, in different quadrants of the garden, prepared to dispose of any that became infested with some nameless pest. I didn’t care what the bug was – the plant would go into the garbage can in the alley the very minute I discovered the problem. My thinking was that by doing that, I’d protect any other kale plant from suffering the same fate. It worked for me the trial year, so I did it again. Kale are now a standard in my garden. I grow a few interspersed throughout the vegetable and flower gardens, always ready to sacrifice one or two as needed.

Tatsoi

Okay I confess, I was weakening – soon, I also allowed some Asian greens to join my party: Tatsoi and Bokchoi. And we were getting along just fine, but I drew the line at cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Those ugly worm memories were too strong to get rid of.

I had observed other gardeners use various ‘hacks’, including covering cabbages, and I watched with interest as the seasons progressed, but too often the end was disappointing, and I felt vindicated. Until Kim Ross bragged about her specific netting that is. I finally caved. Thankfully. And now I am the proud ‘grower of cabbage’.

This is good news for me, because cruciferous vegetables are low in calories and rich in vitamins and fiber. They’re delicious and nutritious. Cabbage is known for its dense heads that come in green, red or white, (I’ve only ever grown green), and is used fresh in salads and cooked dishes like cabbage rolls. In our house its often the base of stir fried vegetables as well as vegetable soup. And it is what makes sauerkraut – SAUERKRAUT. I simply wouldn’t want to do without cabbage.

Cabbage is a cold weather vegetable – so it can be planted earlier than most others. In our area, you can usually plant them mid April – getting a full month jump on most other vegetables. I’m not going to tell you about its usual enemies – because its a subject I care nothing about. I will forever more plant my cabbages in rows under the protective netting Kim Ross advocates, and because of that, I expect to never again meet cabbage moths, flies or caterpillars in any of my cruciferous plants. I am content to be the ridiculous, finicky, easily disgusted, “city person” that you can make fun of behind my back. In my mind that’s far more preferable to worms.

Planting and Soil

WHAT
Try different types of cabbage seeds till you find your favourite. I don’t have a favourite yet. I liked what I grew last year, but I’m still gonna try others since I’m such a novice.

WHERE
Selecting the best spot:  Cabbage prefers well-drained, loamy soil, rich in compost or aged manure.  And it need SUN. Full sun implies a minimum of 6-8 hours daily. You can’t fake the sun so this is very important. Choose a nice sunny spot. I am told that in southern climes you can plant cabbages in more shady areas to protect them from hot unyielding sun (remember they’re a cold weather crop), but I don’t live in a southern climate and where I live, full unfiltered sun is still important for cabbages to grow.

WHEN
Start seeds indoors in late winter (February or March), for spring planting outdoors, or simply buy your plants from a garden center. No judging here.
As soon as the days start warming up enough that the ground has thawed and dried enough to work in, set your plants out.

Don’t hesitate to plant a few different varieties of cabbage – paying attention to the length of time each is expected to take. This could help you harvest consecutively for several weeks. Some will have a suggested growing at 80 days. Some more, some less.

HOW
I practise no-til gardening with a very deep layer of straw as mulch. Deep as in 6-8 inches of straw or more. Because mine is an urban garden, space is always an issue so we mow our straw to break it up a little. There are mixed reviews on this practise, some prefer to leave the long stalks, personally I find them more manageable in my smaller garden if we’ve lightly chopped them up with the lawn mower. My entire row is covered with straw – LOTS of it. In my paths I have a deep layer of wood chips, also for mulch but this mulch takes longer to break down than the straw, perfect for the pathways.

  1. The straw and wood chip mulches (not mixed) allow the rain to go through, while reducing evaporation. This makes best use of our water.
  2. It also prevents the sun from getting through to the ground which eliminates many of the weed seeds from being able to sprout and thrive.
  3. The straw also begins decomposing where it touches the soil, and over the course of the season – that composting of the bottom layer will add to the richness of the soil.

Mark your row and decide exactly where you want each plant. (If you’ve got more seedlings than you can use, give some away.) Space out your stakes for the hoops, in even spaces from each other. Hammer them into the ground to keep them solid.

Allow plenty of room for all the outer cabbage leaves that accompany the actual cabbage – a minimum of 12 inches on either side of the cabbage itself, more depending on the type you’re growing. Pay attention to the recommended space written on the seed package. These outer leaves take up a lotta room but they’re important. They’re busy all season gathering sun, rain and nutrients for your plants.

netted row of cruciferous vegetables in our community garden 2025
2nd picture is my friend Sandi hold up three magnificent from her community garden plot. No bugs,

to PLANT
Gently move the straw over and add plenty of nice, rich compost to the row. Set the small cabbage plants into the prepared ground and water well. Gently firm all the soil around the plant with your hands, and give them a nice thirst quenching drink of water.

Cabbages are heavy feeders, so make sure you add a generous amount of compost to the area reaching out at least a foot around the sealing.

When all done planting, tuck the straw around the plants, being careful NOT to allow the straw to touch them – you want air and a little space between the plant and the straw. Once the plants get strong and happy in their new neighbourhood, you can tuck the straw in closer.

Putting the netting on
Attach the rubber hose / hoops to one stake and then pull the hose to the stake directly across from it. Once all stakes with hoops are attached, take your netting and gently pull it across all stakes, going down your entire row. Be sure to leave enough fabric to fasten down both ends, as well as fasten down the sides to give it a nice snug fit – like putting a bottom sheet on your bed.

That’s it. It really is that easy. You’re good to go.

WATER
The straw mulch will restrict the need of LOTS of water being required all season long. Water generously in the beginning few weeks to help get roots established. Then water as needed throughout the rest of the season.


*Hint: whether water or rain, it will go through the netting just fine and will go through the straw mulch. As the season goes on, reduce the amount of watering you’re giving each plant. Once the cabbage head starts to form, too much moisture may cause the head to split. This doesn’t affect the taste or nutrition but it can look quite unsightly, and will affect the long term shelf life, as well as preventing you from using this particular cabbage from being cabbage rolls.

The big outer leaves gather the rain from which the plant drinks. In most cases, the rain will be sufficient IF you have a deep enough protective straw layer around your vegetables. You should rarely have to water your garden if using enough straw.

I hope you’ll give cabbage an honest try in your garden if you haven’t already, or haven’t for a long time. Prepare to be pleased.

*hint: if you EVER hear of Kim Ross speaking in your part of the world – attend. You’ll thank yourself many times over for having done so.

Warmly,

Cindy

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the humble perogy – old world comfort food

Comforting flavours, versatility and deep nostalgic connections to family, culture and tradition are a difficult combination to beat. It’s part of what makes up real “comfort food”, evoking strong feelings of home and family. Perogies are Eastern European dumplings typically filled with a cheesy mashed potato filling, made from unleavened dough. They are boiled and often pan fried with butter and onions, offering a rich, satisfying flavour especially when topped with sour cream and onions. That’s the other part of what makes up real “comfort food” – it’s gotta be delicious. No matter which way you look at it, perogies are THE comfort food of north central Alberta. They can also be filled with meat or sauerkraut, or even fruit for a sweet variation, with the dough providing a soft, sometimes chewy exterior to the soft interior – whatever it happens to be.

After that, its all about personal preference, as perogies are as versatile as you want them to be. They’re incredibly filling, making it the perfect food for hungry kids, and convenient too, easily be made ahead and frozen for later use.
Some simply boil them, and some take the additional step of pan frying them with butter and onions. No matter how you cook them, they’re usually served with sour cream.

I am not a purist. I came to perogies the ‘gentile’ way – when I was a teenager they were introduced to our family by a relative – purchased frozen from the grocery store. Before long we were hooked. A few years later, I married a man with a Ukrainian step mother, and things like perogies and cabbage rolls were never the same in my world again. To be fair – Margaret Suelzle wasn’t a great cook of many other things, but when it came to her Ukrainian specialties she rocked. There wasn’t a festive dinner without homemade perogies and homemade cabbage rolls, and though I still purchased our perogies from the grocery store, we never said such things in her company.

Spelling

Perogy – perogi, perogies (both are plural so don’t stress about it). Pierogy, pierogi – all pronounced Pee-er-oh-gee. Since it’s native to so many different countries, and then considering the translation into English – spelling is pretty much anything you want it to be. In this blog, I’m gonna use them all, just because I can. No judging.

History of Perogies

Originally only served in the poorest of homes, pierogies required nothing more than the basic farm staples of flour and eggs, and whatever you had on hand for a filling (usually potatoes and onions). They’ve been iconic comfort food around Slavic tables since time immemorial. But just because no one can remember time without them, doesn’t mean they don’t have a history. Today, perogies are typically filled with some kind of potato combination, but they took root in Eastern Europe centuries before potatoes were brought from their native South America. Its perogy evolution.

It is believed that they were introduced in the late 13th century by the Venetian merchant, explorer and writer MARCO POLO who spent 24 years in China. When he returned, he brought fascinating stories of his adventures: the strange people he encountered and even stranger animals. And food! He documented many Chinese foods, introducing Europeans to the idea and variety of Asian cuisine, including spices like pepper, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, foods like rice and sugar, as well as preparation methods like dumplings.

Easy to make and flexible about filling, dumplings became a staple food taking all sorts of forms as they filtered through Europe for the next three hundred years. Hungarian dumplings, German spaetzle, small round dumplings filled with minced meat from Russia, spiced meat-filled dumplings from Turkey, gnocchi and ravioli from Italy, and many others.

By the mid 16th century Spanish conquerors brought POTATOES to Europe from their native land of South America. As with most ‘new’ things they took a while to catch on, but when they did, potatoes became a staple all over Europe – especially in the cooler climates where they thrived. It was only a matter of time before some creative cook would find a way to marry the dumpling to the potato. No doubt that creative cook was somebody’s grandmother, as everybody knows the best perogies in the world are made by grammas.

So how did perogies come to Canada?

Though perogies aren’t originally Canadian, they are deeply ingrained in our culture, thanks to large waves of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants. The first Ukrainian settlers arrived in central Alberta in 1891, followed by thousands more before the first world war. With them they brought traditional foods and recipes which were perfectly suited to their new world – as it so closely resembled the climate they left behind. For many today, perogies have become iconic as a ‘Canadian food’, especially among the Ukrainian and Polish populations of the prairies.

The versatility of perogies is endless, with fillings ranging from the savoury potato, sauerkraut and meat, to the sweeter dessert perogies filled with fruit or sweet cheese.

Verna’s mother was an excellent cook – and in this regard, Verna is just like her, always known for her cooking. She raised her 6 kids on traditional favourites like perogies and cabbage rolls, and to this day no festive meal is complete without them.

Verna Zilinski grew up on a farm in the Ukrainian/Polish area of Boyle (160 km north of Edmonton) surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins. Her mother was born in Ukraine, her father in Alberta. When she was an adolescent her family moved to Edmonton which had become the urban hub for many previous farming families.
– Did you know that the area east of Edmonton is the largest Ukrainian settlement outside of the Ukraine? 10% of Alberta’s population can trace their ancestry from these settlers.

Perogies are labour intensive, but easy, and CHEAP – definitely peasant food, made from whatever was abundant, which for Slavic people were: flour, potatoes and dairy (fresh cheese). Often times it was a simple cottage cheese that every homemaker could make relatively quickly. Verna’s Russian recipe filling below was likely very typical, but be flexible, there was a lot of variation – all depending on what the cook had on hand and their family experience. Cheddar cheese? Feta cheese? Ricotta / cottage cheese? Go for it. Develop your family’s favourite.

DOUGH recipe: makes 30+ perogies

Verna’s perogy dough
3 cups flour
pinch salt
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup oil
1 cup lukewarm water

directions:
1 Prepare dough by mixing everything in.
2 Knead by hand on lightly floured board until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes).
3 Return to bowl and cover with damp cloth to sit and rest for about 30 minutes.
4. When the dough springs back from a gentle poke, then you’re good to go.
5. Divide the dough into two, and begin rolling out first half (same thickness as you would a pie pastry 1/8 inch or 6 millimetres).
While the second piece of dough is sitting, keep it covered so it doesn’t dry out.
Roll half the dough out being careful to not roll too thin.
Using biscuit cutter, or a large rimmed glass, cut dough.
You can use the scraps to reroll once again but remember, the more you work the dough the tougher it will get.

filling recipe

Verna’s Perogy Filling:
1 pound cooked, peeled potatoes mashed
3/4 pound dry cottage cheese
1 egg
1 medium onion, finely chopped and sauteed in butter
salt + pepper
1/2 cup mellted cup butter
Mash potatoes, mash in cottage cheese till well blended
Add egg, sauteed onion, salt + pepper.

Mash potatoes, mash in cottage cheese till well blended
Add egg, sauteed onion, salt + pepper.

Roll the dough out to a pie crust thickness (see above), and cut – using biscuit cutter or large mouth glass. Using a heaping tablespoon of the COOLED filling, fold the dough over into a half moon shape and pinch the edges firmly to seal. Go back and crimp again to ensure you’ve got a good tight seal with no air inside.
Set aside on a lightly floured surface. If you’re planning to freeze them, set them on a lightly floured tea towel. Once frozen it’s a lot easier to remove them from the tray this way.  

how to fill and seal perogies

Bring large pot of water to boil.  Add a teaspoon salt.  
When boiling, drop perogies into water.  Stir gently while adding so they don’t stick to the bottom. 
Don’t over crowd, you can do a second batch if needed.

Gently boil till perogies float, stirring from time to time.  Continue cooking another two or three minutes till tender.  
Remove to a serving dish with a slotted spoon.  
You can drizzle melted butter over top to prevent sticking.  
Cook another batch if needed.  

To Serve
I like them with sour cream and chopped fresh chives or green onions. 
Dan is not a fan of sour cream.  He likes his perogies with butter and sauteed chopped onions.  
Many also like to serve with bacon bits, or cooked sausage.  

Suggested fillings:
mashed potato and cottage cheese
mashed potato and shredded cheddar
sauerkraut
sauerkraut and mushrooms

Dessert Perogies

filling: 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries + 1/2 cup sugar + 2 T flour
use remaining blueberries to add a little water and simmer a few minutes to make a sauce
when all are cooked, pour 1/2 cup melted butter over top and sprinkle with 2 T sugar
serve with blueberry sauce and sour cream

For sweeter dessert perogies use fruit or mild cheese. Blueberries, saskatoons, currants, dried apricots, fig and apple sauce, mozzarella cheese or a favourite cheese that goes well with fruit. What do you have on hand?

Remember the humble beginnings of perogies, and the gentle people who made them. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.

Perogies have kept their status as an inexpensive family meal, but they’re also a very popular side dish that can be pretty fancy if you want. If you’re creative, go all the way with it. If you’re a purist and must stick to your gramma’s original recipe, then rock on. It’s a whole new world out there. And in the spirit of the people who depended on them, use what you have.

Enjoy

Warmly,


Cindy Suelzle