Chinese Cabbage Pac Choy

Franchi - Chinese Cabbage Pac Choy

The Stir-Fry Staple: Chinese Cabbage Pac Choy

Bring the authentic crunch of Asian cuisine to your kitchen garden with Chinese Cabbage Pac Choy. A must-have for any stir-fry enthusiast, this variety produces beautiful, vase-shaped heads with crisp, succulent white stems and tender dark green leaves. Unlike traditional cabbages that take months to mature, Pac Choy is incredibly fast-growing and rewarding. It is the perfect crop for autumn harvests in the UK and Ireland, thriving in the cooling days of September and October when other summer crops are fading. Whether you harvest them as tiny "baby veg" or let them mature into substantial heads, they offer a juicy, mild flavour that is never tough or bitter.

• Zero Waste: The entire plant is edible. The stems offer a satisfying watery crunch (like celery but milder), while the leaves wilt down like silky spinach.

• Speedy Returns: You can be harvesting baby heads in as little as 4–5 weeks from sowing, making it one of the fastest vegetables in the garden.

• Compact Growth: It takes up very little space, making it ideal for square-foot gardening, raised beds, or even patio containers.

• Hardy: It handles the damp, cool Irish and British autumns beautifully and can withstand light frosts.

Master Gardener's Tip: Beat the "Bolt"

The number one frustration with Pac Choy is "bolting" (flowering prematurely), but this is usually a timing issue, not a plant fault. Pac Choy is highly sensitive to day length; if you sow it in late spring (May/June) when days are lengthening, it panics and runs to seed. The secret to success is patience: treat this primarily as a post-midsummer crop. Sow your main crop after the longest day (June 21st), from July through August. As the days get shorter in late summer, the plant focuses on leaf production rather than flowering, giving you fat, juicy heads that stand well into the autumn.

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