Growing Oriental Green Vegetables
The great thing about Oriental vegetables is that a lot of them are best sown after midsummer, when it's too late to start many of our more usual vegetables. They tend to be quick growing and very nutritious, and can be eaten raw in salads or cooked.
We have a range of Oriental vegetables in our seed swap, so have included their growing instructions below. If you grow any of them, please send photos.
Chinese cabbage (Chinese leaf, Napa cabbage)
These can be sliced and eaten raw in salads, added to stir fry or noodle soup or preserved in kimchi.
Chinese Cabbage Atsuko
From the Organic Catalogue: Chinese Cabbage Atsuko
Pale green, barrel shaped, well filled firm heads. Sweet flavoured leaves and good storage ability.
Atsuko is the result of a breeding programme by Kultursaat association to develop an open pollinated Chinese Cabbage variety especially for quality oriented organic and biodynamic cropping.
Sow June to August, harvest August to October. Spacing: 40cm x 30cm. Direct sow and thin to the required spacing.
Pak choi (bok choy)
This is another group of Chinese cabbage, which do not form heads and have smooth, dark green leaf blades instead, forming a cluster reminiscent of mustard greens or celery. Can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled or sauteed.
Pak Choi Baby Choi
From the Organic Catalogue: Pak Choi Baby Choi
Half the size of regular pak choi. Dark green slightly savoyed leaves. Good heat tolerance.
Sowing late spring to early autumn.
Sow May to August, harvest July to November. Spacing: 30cm x 30cm. Direct sow and thin to the required spacing.
Pak Choi Tatsoi
From the Organic Catalogue: Pak Choi Tatsoi
There is some confusion as to whether this is a Chinese cabbage or a Pak Choi. A loose headed variety with flat open habit and spoon-shaped dark green glossy leaves.
For boiling, stir fry or salad use. Sow July onwards. Crops well into winter.
Sow July to October, harvest September to December. Spacing: 40cm x 40cm. Direct sow and thin to the required spacing.
Japanese greens
Mizuna
From the Organic Catalogue: Mizuna
Large heads of finely dissected leaves. Imparts a slight mustard flavour to stir fry and salads.
Sow outside May to August and under cover September to April. Harvest all year. Spacing: 30cm rows thinly. Make successional sowings at 21 day intervals, in 30cm rows. Cut when 5-10cm tall, leave to regrow for second cutting.
Komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach)
From the Organic Catalogue: Mustard Spinach Komatsuna
Very vigorous with dark leaves ready one month after sowing. Flavour a cross between cabbage and spinach.
Sow outside March to September. Harvest May to October. Spacing: 15cm x 5cm. Direct sow and thin to the required spacing.
Giant Red Mustard Greens
From the Organic Catalogue: Mustard Giant Red
Leaves deep purple/red in cold weather. May reach 60cm when mature. Sow in late summer for winter use or in spring and cut young leaves to give colour to salads.
Sow outside August to October. Harvest November to January. Spacing: 30cm x 25cm. Sow in late summer and autumn and thin as required. When mature, plant will have basal leaves 30cm wide, 60cm long. Also can be sown in spring (March to May) and the seedlings and young leaves cut for salad (May to July).
Related resources
Grow Your Own Vegetables
Excellent book on growing vegetables with sections on techniques, a directory of vegetables, seasonal guide to jobs, and appendices on veg for the hungry gap, successional sowing and more.
How to create a New Vegetable Garden
Charles Dowding draws on his years of experience, to show how easy it is to start a new vegetable garden. Any plot -- whether a building site, overgrown with weeds or unwanted lawn -- can be turned into a beautiful and productive vegetable area. Charles's no-nonsense and straightforward advice is the perfect starting point for the beginner or experienced gardener. The book takes you step-by-step through: * Planning and early stages * Clearing the ground * Mulch - what, why, how? * Minimizing digging * Sowing and planting across the seasons * Growing in polytunnels and greenhouses It is filled with labour-saving ideas and the techniques that Charles uses to garden so successfully, and is illustrated throughout with photos and tales from Charles's first year in his new vegetable garden.
Organic Gardening The Natural No-Dig Way
A very helpful book about growing fruit and vegetables organically and without digging.
RFGN Guide to Growing Beetroot
The Reading Food Growing Network guide to growing beetroot.
RFGN Guide to Growing French Beans
The Reading Food Growing Network guide to growing French beans, both climbing and dwarf.
RFGN Guide to Growing Onions
The Reading Food Growing Network guide to growing onions.
RFGN Guide to Growing Radishes
The Reading Food Growing Network guide to growing radishes.
RFGN Guide to Growing Salad Leaves
The Reading Food Growing Network guide to growing salad leaves, including rocket.
RFGN Guide to Growing Squash
The Reading Food Growing Network guide to growing squash.
Seed sowing techniques
Advice from the Royal Horticultural Society about how to sow seeds
Seed Viability Chart
Temperate Climate Permaculture's chart of seed viability times for the most common seeds used in gardens and farms