I have some Pak Choi seeds with sowing/growing instructions. But I've never eaten it before. What do you use Pak Choi for? The instructions say sow outside May to August, can the season be extended by growing under fleece, say if I wanted to have it as a winter or early spring salad crop? What type of soil does it need, well manured or not. Any information about this crop greatly appreciated.
pak choi is a chinese veggie, it is used in stir fries sliced thinly.
Oriental veg used in stir fry, lovely. It's well worth growing if you like that sort of thing as it's expensive to buy. They grow it in some of the fields in Essex, can't remember where. I have tried it -the slugs like it even more than I do >:( I had the best luck overwintering it in the greenhouse.
I must try again -something ELSE for the seed order.
Jeremy
Stir fry in olive oil with some garlic for a few minutes and then add some oyster sauce. I have grown it the last two years I have had my allotment. Before this my husband used to buy it when cooking chinese.
Have just cooked chicken in black bean sauce with assistance from my son but alas wrong time of the year for growing pak choi so had the following instead. Stir fried carrot, brussels, pepper and garlic from the allotment with ginger and few sugar snap peas left over from my sons noodle soup cooked for sunday lunch.
Flea beetle loves it too!! = Tim
Where is Yuet? Â She is ace with all of these Asian/oriental veggies. Â Pak choi is devine lightly steamed and drizzled with some oyster flavoured sauce! Â YUM! Â I grew lots on the lottie last year, but didn't get to eat lots because;
1. Â Bl**dy flea beetles love 'em
2. Â Slugs love 'em more
3. No 'extra' water so lots bolted!
If you are going to give them a go, a well composted patch which is nice and moisture retentive. Â Grow them quick like rocket and radishes so they are tender and sweet and I am going to cover mine with fleece as soon as I plant them to keep the flea beetles off!
Sounds like my father will like it then, he loves stiry fry (so much that's he'd eat it for breakfast if he had his way!), but we like stiry fry as well. I might have some space in my brassica bed so will plant it there and like you EJ I will cover with fleece straight away. Slugs, what don't they like!
I tried Pak Choi last year. After a bit of a shaky start (flea beetles, so fleece may help) it sprang up. Tasted really good in stir fries etc.
As for growing season - I left what I couldn't eat in the ground thinking it'd keel over of it's own accord in the winter, and it's still there! Haven't tried eating any recently though. Obviously we've had a mild winter so far, but it seems to be doing OK. If it was colder then I reckon a cloche would keep it going through the winter.
QuoteSlugs, what don't they like!
EJ with a knife!
Great flea beetles too! Didn't have those in the garden, got them at the lottie.
Jeremy
As it's leafy, it loves high nitrogen, I naturally use plenty of chicken manure ;D
Plenty of water too ,it keeps the stems crunchy
I took the cloches off of mine last weekend (I had sowed in modules in the autumn), and most of it was OK, not grown much, but it has so far survived the cold, so with a bit of early spring warmth it should start to put on some growth(As long as it doesn't bolt). By contrast my komatsuna (similar to spinach) is ready now.
It's well worth growing, I have got Hannakan and Ivory for this year. Best way is to sow like lettuce and thin out (use the young plants as salad leaves). Fleece or cloche if frost threatens.
Loz
what are flea beetles, apart from something else for me to worry about? what do they like, apart from pak choi? ??? ???
Flea beetles are teeny little shiney black beetles which jump when you brush the foliage of things they love, and what don't they love! Rocket, radish, pak choi to name but a few.
Googled and found this....
'Flea Beetles: Flea beetles are small leaf beetles and named for their habit of jumping like fleas when they are disturbed; adult flea beetles feed on the foliage of plants which can be seen as tiny shot holes in the foliage. The various species of flea beetles that are pests of vegetables include the banded flea beetle, cabbage flea beetle, corn flea beetle (transmits bacterial wilt of corn), desert flea beetle, eggplant flea beetle, hop flea beetle, pale striped flea beetle, red-headed flea beetle, potato flea beetle, sinuate flea beetle, spinach flea beetle, striped flea beetle, sweet potato flea beetle, tobacco flea beetle, toothed flea beetle, tuber flea beetle, western black flea beetle, western striped flea beetle, and western potato flea beetle. '
and this....
'Adult flea beetles feed on the leaves of cabbage, radish, corn, horseradish, tomato, kale, cucumber, melon, grape, spinach, potato, eggplant, and related vegetable crops. They also feed on strawberries and chrysanthemums. Some species such as the elm flea beetle even attack trees. Slow-growing transplants and seedlings may be heavily damaged by the flea beetle and even die. '
oh my god - i thought having an allotment would help me to relax and lower my blood pressure!  i've never had so many things to worry about :o..... luckily the only things i've found so far are worms and frogs - and i love them :D
I was wondering where they live? Not in the soil presumeably of fleece would keep them in and not out.
Jeremy
they probably have some sort of radar, and just invade when the stuff they like is ready to eat!