Allotments 4 All

 :-\ I fail miserably at growing oriental brassicas. I follow the instructions on the seed packet. The plants come out spindly and flower rapidly. What am I doing wrong?! Is there any special soil preparation that I should have done? I would like to try pak choi and kai lan again soon and need advice badly! Thanks!

mine do much the same, but I had much more success last year with some starter plants from Marshalls...
???

Could it be the weather?

hi luckystar,  :D
                         My attempts at pak choi got the same results as you had :( I am having another go with chinese cabbage, an F1 variety called richi, I sowed them in pots & transplanted them into the ground yesterday, covered with nets (as advised on this site as protection from the pigeons) . We will wait with baited breath  ::)
Please try again yourself, with the way the weather has been this year we have all had plenty of failures but still we keep trying.
                                                                         Adrian.

If you are plagued with Flea Beetle fleece is a great idea, as Brassicas they are often severly mauled by the wee beasties...
:'(

it is all down to finite timing with this group of brassicas and perhpa you are sowing them too early, they prefer it to be cool and sowing late summer is the best time + net, cover, fleece etc but only to proect from birds, flea beetle etc