Bok Choy

How to propagate bok choy

The cabbage family is a cool-season seed crop. Start the heading types (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) in trays 5–6 weeks before you want them in the ground; sow the fast roots and greens (radish, turnip, mustard, arugula) straight into the bed. They all cross with each other readily, so if you're saving seed, only let one variety of a given species flower at a time.

Growing bok choy in Texas

Give it full sun to part shade and rich, moist soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.

This is a cool-season crop. On the Texas Gulf Coast that means your real windows are fall and late winter, not summer — sow as the heat breaks in September–October and again in late winter, and you'll harvest through our mild winters while the rest of the country is frozen out.

In a container it'll dry faster than in the ground, so check the top inch of soil daily in summer; pots on a hot Texas patio can need water every single day.

Harvesting

Figure on roughly 45–60 before you're harvesting. Harvest at peak and keep harvesting — most vegetables produce harder the more you pick, and one left to over-mature tells the plant its job is done. The part you're after: stalks and leaves.

Making more for free

Every seed we sell is open-pollinated, which means you can save your own from the best plants and it'll grow true next year. Let a few of your strongest plants finish and go to seed, dry it fully, and store it cool and dark. That's the whole point of heirlooms — buy once, grow forever.