Chinese Cabbage ‘michihili’

I love Chinese cabbage and especially griddled with olive oil and salt. Yummy! but treat like a  lettuce in salads, or cooked like spinach, shredded for slaw, steamed or stir-fried. I grow this one late summer/autumn for eating in winter, I grow it in the greenhouse.

Sow like lettuce;

Sow for winter leaves late summer onwards to avoid early flowering. I find sowing undercover preferable to sowing direct for better germination. Sow by scattering a small handful of seed into a small pot or seed tray filled with compost. Pre water the compost and firm lightly before sowing. Press seeds down gently once sown and cover with a light layer of compost. Prick out once large enough and when they have a pair of leaves, prick out into individual modules to grow on. Mix compost with vermiculite to aid the roots as they hate being waterlogged.

Plant into final position 15cm spacing, either inside in a greenhouse or direct into a prepared bed. . If you are keeping seedlings outside then they will benefit from a cover such as horticultural fleece, to keep them snug and out of wind. I like to remove the outer leaves when I need them, you don’t need to pull the whole plant up just keep removing the user leaves to eat and you will get a really long harvest this way.