Sow Oriental vegetables now
It’s the perfect time to sow Oriental vegetables – they grow better after the longest day and you can harvest some in just a few weeks
1 CHOY SUM
With hints of cabbage and mustard, this is a very quick crop, producing crisp shoots with wavyedged leaves that’ll be good to use in salads around six weeks after sowing. ‘Moulin Rouge’ is a beautiful variety, with pinky stems that are the colour of rhubarb. Sow a regular batch of seeds on the surface of compost in small, 20cm (8in) pots and keep them somewhere partly shaded and sheltered. You can also leave the crop to mature and steam the whole plant when you cook it.
TOP TIP If you’re running out of space outside, sow some seeds in a pot for a cut-and-come-again crop and keep it on a cool windowsill indoors.
2 PAK CHOI
A beautiful crop that produces, crunchy leaf stalks with a slightly ‘cabbagey’ flavour. The leaves are good for using as a cut-and-come-again salad crop. To grow to maturity, sow seed thinly in rows direct onto damp soil, then thin out seedlings to 20cm (8in) apart once they’re around 10cm (4in) tall. Keep well watered at all times. Try purple-leaved ‘Rubi’. TOP TIP Make sure the soil doesn’t dry out when the plants are at the seedling stage. This reduces the risk of flea beetle.
3 CHINESE CABBAGE
The whole of a Chinese cabbage can be eaten and the leaves have a fresh cabbage flavour. Young leaves add a subtle twist to a salad, and are ready four weeks after sowing. For mature crops, it’ll be at least twice that. ‘Richi’ will form a heart in just nine weeks. Sow seeds direct onto damp soil and thin seedlings to 30cm (1ft) if you want to leave the crop to mature, or 15cm (6in) if you want to harvest young leaves. TOP TIP It needs deep, fertile soil, so grow in a well dug spot or raised bed.
4 CHINESE BROCCOLI
This crop tastes like broccoli, with flower stalks, leaves and stems all edible. Stalks are ready to harvest eight weeks after sowing. The stems are good steamed and take just a few minutes to cook. Sow seeds direct onto the soil, then thin to 30cm (1ft) apart when seedlings are big enough to handle. Keep well watered in a dry spell. Harvest flower stalks as the flowers begin to open and the plant can produce some extra side shoots. Harvest the chunky main stems in autumn.
TOP TIP Look out for fast-maturing variety ‘Kailaan Express’ for a quick crop.
5 AMSOI GREEN
This Chinese mustard adds strong flavour to salads, and the flavour gets more intense as the leaves age. Sow every two weeks until the end of summer for fresh leaves well into autumn. Sow direct into soil in rows 25cm (10in) apart, or in pots of multi-purpose compost kept in a partly shaded spot outside.
TOP TIP Sow in the greenhouse at the end of summer for winter leaves.
6 KOMATSUNA
Another peppery crop, you can sow seeds in a sunny spot outside in small batches, starting a new row every couple of weeks. If you keep harvesting the young leaves you won’t need to thin seedlings. It’s very hardy, so you can sow in autumn for some tasty winter pickings.
TOP TIP Grow the variety ‘Comred’ to add some ruby red colour to the veg patch.
7 MIZUNA
This is a very attractive, cut-and-come-again salad leaf that’s easy to grow in pots. It has a peppery flavour but is subtler than rocket. Just fill a 20cm (8in) wide pot with multi-purpose compost, water, and then when the water has drained, sprinkle the seeds thinly on the surface and cover with sieved compost. A simple pot sown with just mizuna leaves will make an great looking container display for the patio, too. Snip leaves back by just over half their length when they’ve reached 15cm (6in) tall and they’ll resprout to provide a further crop.
TOP TIP Feed with a liquid plant food such as MiracleGro All Purpose Liquid Plant Food after the first harvest.