Growing pak choi: sowing, planting, harvesting

Pak choi – also pak choy, bok choy or Chinese mustard cabbage – is a leaf cabbage from China that forms no head and is ready in eight to ten weeks. Stems and leaves are used together, raw in salads or briefly stir-fried.

The right moment

Pak choi flowers under long days: sown in early summer it often bolts before it is usable. The safe window is late summer – sowing or planting from mid-July to early September, harvest from September into November. A second, shorter crop works in early spring under fleece.

Site and spacing

Sunny to lightly shaded, humus-rich soil that holds water. Plant 30 × 30 cm; small baby varieties need only 15 cm. Pak choi is a moderate feeder and above all needs steady moisture — drought stress is the commonest reason for bolting.

Harvesting

Either cut the whole rosette just above the ground, or take the odd outer leaf and let the plant carry on. Young plants take light frost and even turn milder for it.

Common problems

Flea beetles pit the leaves, cabbage whites lay eggs underneath. A fine crop protection net from planting solves both. As a brassica, pak choi should not follow cabbage in the rotation.