Get cracking for tasty, quick-cropping pak choi

Should you fancy leafy greens in the next few weeks, sow pak choi. If well-watered, seedlings will pop up rapidly and produce edible leaves. And if left longer, they’ll grow into bulbous hearts and sturdy leaves. Whether it’s allowed to mature for stir-fries or used in salads, pak choi tastes best when grown fast.

For baby salad leaves in containers, use good potting compost, water well, scatter seed sparsely over and cover with a thin layer of compost.

You can harvest it at any stage — thin out the young seedlings for use as baby salad leaves. That will make more space for the remaining plants to expand, mature and develop p good hearts.

Pak choi needs 8cm between n plants for salad leaves and d 25cm for mature vegetables.

If raising in open ground, , prepare a fine seedbed with h 2cm-deep drills. Sow thinly.

A big problem with Chinese e pak choi is running to seed, or r bolting. Young plants can bolt t if stressed or when sown at the wrong time of year. Sowing after late-June reduces this risk. But t bolt-resistant varieties, such as s Joi Choi, Glacier or Summer r Breeze, are also wise choices.

If you prefer the hotter flavour r of European brassicas, sow w surplus broccoli, kale or even n turnip seeds. Spread thickly, there will be many leaves to o gather as spicy salad greens.