How to Grow Bok Choy in About 30 Days

If waiting is the part of gardening that puts you off, bok choy is the one to start with, because it goes from seed to something you can actually cook with in about a month, and there is not much else in the patch that will do that.

How fast is fast

Germination is four to eight days, and you can be picking baby leaves inside about five weeks. Sow a short row every fortnight rather than a big lot all at once and you get a steady supply instead of a glut, which is what usually happens with anything this quick.

It likes our cooler months

Bok choy prefers cool weather, which is handy, because that is when there is less pest pressure, less watering to keep up with, and less chance of it bolting on you. Somewhere with a bit of sun rather than baking all day, soil that drains, and enough room around each plant that they are not fighting each other.

It does not need a garden

A pot on the deck will do it. So will a corner of a raised bed, and because it is finished and eaten so quickly you can tuck it in between slower things like lettuce and rosemary and have the space back before they need it.

It forgives a beginner

Miss a watering, get an odd run of weather, and it generally shrugs and keeps going, which matters more than it sounds. The reason I point new gardeners at it is not really the bok choy. It is that a crop you planted and then ate a month later tells you the whole thing works, and that is worth more than any amount of reading.

What to do with it

Flash fry the leaves with a bit of garlic, drop it into a soup near the end, or through noodles. The stems stay crunchy and the leaves wilt down, so put the stems in first and the leaves in last.

Come and have a yak with us if you want to know what else goes in at the same time, because there is usually something that can share the bed with it.

Shop related products

• Brunnings Seed Raising Mix 5L. For starting a tray, though bok choy is happy sown straight where it will grow.
• Potting Mix 70L Brunnings. If you are growing it in a pot on the deck.
• Brunnings Garden Compost with Seaweed 25L. Through the bed before you sow.
• Neutrog 1L Seamungus Liquid Concentrate. A light liquid feed to keep the leaves coming.

Bok choy seed is not on the website, so ask us in the shop, or look through the D.T. Brown seed range and the rest of the garden centre.

Keep reading

• Seeds vs Seedlings: Which is the Best Starting Point for Your Garden?
• A Beginner's Guide to Building Good Soil for Your Vegetable Garden

Candeece. If you want one win before you give up on gardening, make it this one.

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