Chinese Leaves ? ? ?

Hi everyone,
I don't know if anyone knows what I mean by " Chinese Leaves ". The ones we've bought are like a hard lettuce which is eaten raw and has a lovely peppery heart/stems.

I was wandering if anyone knew the name of them and if you can grow them from seed ?

Thanks All

 

Pak Choi?

青菜

 

Hi Zigs,

You're a star even though you got it wrong

The reason is I've found it by looking at Pak Choi. ( Pak Choi is used in cooking like cabbage, this is eaten raw like lettuce ).

I think it's Sui Choi also known as Napa Cabbage. It's proper name is Brassica Rapa subsp Pekinensis.

Now all I've gotta do is find the seeds. Apparently it's popular in Northern Europe as it likes the milder/cooler climate and the shorter day length that we have.

Thanks again Zigs

 

Managed to find a pic ( courtesy of Bing )....

 

Chinese leaves or Chinese cabbage.

When I was little living in Beijing, Chinese cabbage was one of the handful of vegetables for winter. Every year from late October onward the 'caggage mountain' appeared outside greengrocers' shops. People queued up to buy hundreds of them to last until next spring.



(Google images)

I bought seeds a few years back. They germinated and grew very happily. Unfortunately not just you and me love them there are awful a lot of pests love them as well. Because the cabbage forms a tight heart the caterpillars and slugs / snails tunnelled right inside. Even though I grew them under fine mesh cover and applied slug pellets periodically the end result was still very disgusting. Now I don't bother to grow them any more .

But if you want to try, sow seeds after mid-summer day. Some people tie the cabbage leaves loosely together to help them heart up. On the whole they are easy to grow if you are able to control the pests.

 

Hi HsuH,

According to what I was reading on tinternettywebby thingy, it's called" Chinese Leaves ".

Thanks for all the info

 

AKA Brassica Rapa Pekinensis.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_cabbage

F1 Seeds reduced to 99p at T&M

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vege...eafy-green-seeds/chinese-leaves-richi-f1/26TM

You can get 6 packets free, only having to pay £1.95 P&P using £5 code

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/6-pkts-of-t-m-seeds-for-only-£1-95-p-p-33p-pkt.104536/

@Anthony Rogers Do you want to borrow a £5 Code?

 

Thanks Scrungee,
I would if I could use it but I don't have a computer. Can't do Internet ordering off my phone.