Chinese Cabbage / Chinese leaves
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:32 am
Chinese Cabbage Brassica rapa var pekinensis
Sometimes known as Chinese leaves.
It appears there are three main types of Chinese cabbage, according to Joy Larkom;
1. a tall barrel shaped cabbage where the leaves fold in to form a dense head with wide white ribs and pale green leaves.
2. a tall semi-hearting variety cylindrical in shape with wide white ribs and pale green leaves.
3. a loose leaf variety
Both the first two have wide white ribs and pale green leaves. The first variety is the one most commonly found in supermarkets. I've found that, when buying chinese cabbage seeds, often the picture or description is of the more commonly known variety 1, the dense form even though the variety is a loose heading or semi-hearting form.
Has anyone else had the same experience? Has anyone grown a barrel type if so what was the variety name and where did the seeds come from.
I'll start a list of vars grown and what they were actually like.
Varieties:
Michili variety 2 - has an elongated semi-heading shape that resembles romaine lettuce with light green leaves with broad white ribs.
Sometimes known as Chinese leaves.
It appears there are three main types of Chinese cabbage, according to Joy Larkom;
1. a tall barrel shaped cabbage where the leaves fold in to form a dense head with wide white ribs and pale green leaves.
2. a tall semi-hearting variety cylindrical in shape with wide white ribs and pale green leaves.
3. a loose leaf variety
Both the first two have wide white ribs and pale green leaves. The first variety is the one most commonly found in supermarkets. I've found that, when buying chinese cabbage seeds, often the picture or description is of the more commonly known variety 1, the dense form even though the variety is a loose heading or semi-hearting form.
Has anyone else had the same experience? Has anyone grown a barrel type if so what was the variety name and where did the seeds come from.
I'll start a list of vars grown and what they were actually like.
Varieties:
Michili variety 2 - has an elongated semi-heading shape that resembles romaine lettuce with light green leaves with broad white ribs.