Kitchen Garden Forum

Just to report that we made early sowings of Komatsuna and turnips tops, two fast-growing brassica, to fill the gap caused by a kale disaster (destroyed by pieongs and pheasants). They both did their job, though the komatsuna has now bolted and gone to the compost heap. The turnip tops continue to yield and, of the two, we prefer the flavour of turnip tops...

Hi Ken,
Very interesting. Do you eat these cooked or raw? Turnip tops have been grown for many years and used to be grown to fill the hungry gap but Komatsuna is quite new to the scene. I have Komatsuna on the go at present but sadly never thought about Turnips tops.
Komatsuna will bolt if not picked young and should be grown on very short span successional sowings depending on what you anticipate your usage will be. My sowings are no more than about two weeks apart.
I eat both raw and lightly steamed and to date have had very little wastage.
I suppose that I could have a crack at some Turnip tops even now if I get a move on.
JB.

Hi Ken & Johnboy

Like most, but not quite all, oriental brassicas, Komatsuna will bolt in early summer if sown in spring, and very soon if sown in summer. Sown late summer-autumn it will produce large plants over winter and not flower until the following spring - when the flowering shoots are delicious.
When you talk of turnip tops, do you mean real turnips? A much nicer, and quicker, plant is Cime di rapa which is very fast (sessantina varieties ready in 60 days, quarantina in 40).

Thanks, Johnboy & Alan. We used both veg for cooking; might yet try the turnip tops raw i salad. The turnip tops we've grown this spring were Rapa Senza Testa rather than Cima Di Rapa, which (as broccoli Raab) we found a bit unproductive when we tried it, given the small sowings we usually go in for. We're very pleased with Rapa Senza Testa. And, yes, I knew the risk that Komatsuna might bolt quickly, but we did OK with it in the circumstances. We got decent pikigs from it at the time we needed them.

Most Oriental greens will bolt in response to lengthening days. If you sow in a week, they should behave themselves. I never sow pak choi before the end of June. Most of the mustard greens are best sown in the autumn as winter crops, and they will continue to grow through all but the severest weather. Green-in-Snow, in particular, is aptly named.

In reponse to oriental greens bolting early - I have just been shown by a neighbour what looks like oil seed rape plant in flower but actually pak choi planted too early i.e six weeks ago. Now I know the answer - light and not heat !
Thanks
Hilary

hilary wrote:Now I know the answer - light and not heat !

I despair at how few seed companies pass this information on to their customers in their growing instructions. But they are in the business of selling seed, and if the first crop grows wrong, the customer will come back for some more.

FelixLeiter wrote:

hilary wrote:Now I know the answer - light and not heat !

I despair at how few seed companies pass this information on to their customers in their growing instructions. But they are in the business of selling seed, and if the first crop grows wrong, the customer will come back for some more.

Or give up growing pak choi altogether

As regards best practice with pak choi, I'll stick to what I posted under Technical Data a good while ago. Apart from spring sown crops for salad leaves, I would not sow before mid-summer. Having said that, as soon as it stops raining I am going to sow some Santoh yellow pak choi which Ben at Real Seeds claims will resist bolting better than most. We'll see how it performs.