Grow a quick crop of pak choi

Grow a quick crop of pak choi

Leafy and nutritious pak choi takes hardly any timetogrow. Popa fewplantsintooddspaces as you harvest other crops.

Time to sow: spring-summer’

Pak choi is a delcious baby vegetable that can be eaten whole, braised or steamed, or the leaves tossed in stir-fries. Although an oriental leaf vegetable, it grows easuy and so swuftly here that it's the perfect 'iiiler' crop. You can treat it as a cut-and-come-again and start harvesting baby leaves for salads after only about 2 weeks, or you can leave the plants to grow to full suze within a couple of months. Don't let them grow for too long though, or they wutl bolt and wnll become unappetising.

Choose F1 hybrids, as these are more resistant to bolting, and sow into modules in mid-spring, planting out good-sized plants once the frosts have passed. Harvest mature plants before the chilly days begin, as pak choi tends to bolt if the weather is too cold. Protect developing plants from pigeons with netting.

Good varieties include ‘Joi Choi', which has some resistance to bolting; 'Red Choi’, which is nice in salads.

TIP Water plentifully during the growing season for good crops.