Live & Let Live

I don't know about you, but I love red cabbage. I put it in almost every salad I make, although admittedly, I don't make salad's often enough. I almost always have a head of red cabbage in my refridgerator; It seems to last forever - I just cut off the browned bits and shave myself off some.

Last month I pulled out my head of cabbage and found that it had a growth - literally! A new cabbage head was growing out of the center. Inside my refridgerator I was not just storing but actually growing food! This is what it looked like on April 12th:

I've had food grow in my kitchen before - ginger root, potatoes, onions sometimes, but that seemed to happen more often when the food was in the cupboard or drawer. But a cabbage? I considered planting it, but decided I'd just keep it awhile, shaving my bits around the new head. Heck, I would have fresh cabbage all the time!

Yesterday I was cleaning out the refridgerator, and found that my cabbage had tripled in size. I finally decided to let it live, and planted it in my kitchen garden. I buried the base and left the new growth above ground. I started wondering if cabbage was a winter vegetable and needed colder weather to thrive. Had I killed it by taking it out of the cold and planting it in the ground just as the weather was warming up?

This morning I had an answer of sorts. When I planted the cabbage, a majority of the leaves were white with purple tips. After only 1 day in the sun and earth, the whole new head is a rich, deep purple. It seems to be happy in it's new home. I wish my camera were working so I could show you the change...