Too Little Spring for Little Pak Choi

 

Several years ago, we discovered toy choy, a small variety of pak choi that grows quickly and can be harvested in 30 days. This was very important because our garden has cabbage worms. Yuck! I hate cabbage worms. I hate them so much that I have been known to stomp on the pretty little butterflies that make the worms like a Blue Meanie with a vendetta. We don't use poison on things we're going to eat, hand picking off the gross little creatures was tedious on kale and impossible between the layers of growing cabbage, and even row covers couldn't keep them at bay. 

 

The grand solution was toy choy, a member of the cabbage family that we could harvest before the wormage set in. One year I didn't harvest in time and was thoroughly disgusted as the bright green worms floated to the surface as I rinsed the toy choy, but otherwise we've had really good luck growing lovely crops of the tasty greens. In years past, I've had enough to freeze and pickle on top of cooking it right away. This year, unfortunately, was not one of those years. There were no worms, but not much pak choi either.

This year's toy choy (powdered with diatomaceous earth)

I'm pretty certain it was the lack of real springtime weather here that was the problem. Before the seedlings could put on any nice leaves, most of them bolted. With so much energy going into making flowers, there wasn't much left for producing the parts we actually want to eat. 

So spindly!

So, I gave in this evening and just harvested the whole lot of them. 

Yes sir, yes sir, one basket full.

I did my usual multiple rinsings, sorted and trimmed them, then spun them out in the salad spinner (one of my favorite kitchen tools ever). 

Salad spinner!

I ended up with just one gallon bread bag full of little pak choi leaves. 

Sad trombone sounds

Oh well. We'll enjoy them over the next couple of days - probably in a stir fry or cooked up with some beans - and we'll try again next year. Or maybe in the fall if it actually cools down gently enough before going right into winter.

They're small but still pretty.

And now, in backyard wildlife news, one of the new neighborhood fawns likes to rest just outside our garden gate next to the transplanted rhubarb.

Awwwwwww!

Pre-Garden Experiment

Last year, I let a couple pak choi plants go to seed. In the fall, I collected the seeds for use in this year’s garden. I was a bit surprised that there were so many seeds in the dried little pods. I got probably five times more seeds than what I had gotten in the packet I originally purchased. That made me wonder if there was perhaps something special about the store-bought seeds. There must have been some reason for them to cost what they did. What if the ones I had collected didn’t grow?

Pak choi seed pods

Pak choi seeds – such lovely colors!

 So, I decided to run a little experiment to test the viability of my collected seeds. In late February, I planted a handful of seed in my starter tray. I had so many of them. It wouldn’t hurt if I “wasted” some to see if they would grow. In just two days, little seedlings were pushing their way up through the starter. Success!

Perfect little pak choi seedlings

The seeds were proven viable so, why not keep them going? Two weeks later, I transplanted a dozen of the seedlings into a couple of low, disposable tin baking trays. I used four trays for the improvised plantings. I took two trays and put a layer of river stones in the bottom. I poked holes in the bottoms of the other two and filled them with potting soil. Then, I put the trays filled with soil on top of the trays with the stones so that my two mini-gardens would have good drainage.

Seedlings in the tray gardens

Pak choi in the garden took just a little over a month to go from seed to harvest. A month after putting the experimental seedling into the trays, they were still on the small side. That was not much of a surprise. There really wasn’t much space for roots. The plants did look quite nice, though, with perfect miniature leaves. I feel, when planted in the garden, the seeds will do just fine.

Mini-toy choy

I gave the experiment another week or so then decided it was time to eat the test subjects. The twelve plants provided enough tiny pak choi leaves to add to a stir fry with fresh asparagus from the garden. While the plants never reached their full potential size, I am calling it a success and will confidently plant the saved seeds in this year’s garden.

Pak choi right after a watering

Taking Stock on the First Day of Summer

Summer is officially here and the garden is doing quite well. At the moment, I am sort of between crops. Last weekend I harvested the first round of pak choi. There were several dozen perfect heads though I did wait a little longer than I should. Some were starting to set flower buds. I left several of the smaller heads to grow a little longer. I definitely waited a little too long for those. A little rain and some high temperatures and they bolted. I decided to leave a couple in the ground and let them flower. I want to see if I can collect and save the seeds. There are still several dozen pak choi from the second round of planting. I’ll have to really keep an eye on them so I don’t miss them at their peak.

Pak choi harvest

Oops! Waited a little too long.

Maybe I can collect some seed.

The arugula has also started to bolt. That’s not too surprising. It was around this time last year that I ended up pulling the plants because they were flowering. I’m debating planting another round but the heat really makes for some peppery greens and I don’t see the heat going away anytime soon.

Bolting arugula

The rainbow chard is going strong. I’ve been harvesting it a little at a time when it is small and we’ve been eating it in salads. The season has been much dryer than last year (which is actually good as last year's wet weather caused a fungus on my chard) so, with any luck, it should keep doing well for quite a while.

So many pretty colors!

With everything else, it’s a waiting game. Everything I planted is making a decent show of it. The corn is several inches tall and the runner beans are starting to reach for the trellis. The cucumbers, cantaloupe, and four types of squash (if you include pumpkins) are all looking healthy and happy. And I’m happy to see new blossoms on the tomato and pepper plants. I just need patience and continued good luck, and I should be busy with produce in no time.

Tomato blossoms

Almost pepper blossoms

The biggest challenge this year has been dealing with the squirrels. Last year, I don’t remember seeing any squirrels at all until in the fall when a new batch of young ones took up residence in the maple tree in front of our house. This year, we’re practically tripping over them. There are chipmunks too and no matter what we try, they are still digging in the garden and eating most of the strawberries. We’ve only been quick enough to get maybe two dozen berries before the little rodents have snatched them up. We’ve tried netting over the berries, cayenne pepper over everything, Critter Ridder around the perimeter, live traps, and, yes, rat traps (we went for the nuclear option). Nothing seems to slow them down.

We were quick enough to get about
two dozen berries before the squirrels.

Stupid squirrels! There are no nuts hidden in
the garden. Those are beets and your insistent
digging is threatening their very existence!

All of the other wildlife has stayed respectfully out of the garden. The rabbits are happy in the clover and the deer seem to just enjoy lying nearby. I did have a doe sniffing around the front flower beds just the other day while I was eating my breakfast. I will have to investigate some natural repellents. I would rather not have my hostas and lilies chomped off like they were last year.

Bunny luxuriating in the clover outside the garden.

Button buck just chilling next to the garden

Morning visitor in the front yard

Got anything good for breakfast?

Guess Who was in the Garden Again

We had a house rabbit for many years. I should have known from that experience that rabbits do not give up easily. Yesterday morning when I looked out the window on my way down the stairs, as I do every morning, I saw a pair of ears in the garden. So, I rallied the troops (my husband), put on my barn boots, grabbed my camera and headed outside. You know that little break in the fence I mentioned before? Well, that was the spot where the rabbit chewed through the mesh fence to get into the garden. We knew that it could easily chew through the mesh if it wanted to but I didn't think it would make the effort. I guess I was wrong. It got out through the same hole after a brief panic among the raised beds. As soon as it was out of the garden it settled down maybe 20 feet away and started chomping on grass. Apparently once it was outside the fence the two perturbed humans were no longer a threat.

The rabbit peacefully snacking on greenery after being chased from the garden.

So, as the rabbit went about its business, I scanned the garden. Nothing was sampled or disturbed this time. I must have seen it right after it got through the fence. The way the rabbit was eating greens from the lawn it was obviously hungry but it didn’t touch anything in the garden. Maybe it just didn’t like what I have growing. Who knows? My husband grabbed some wood strips and the stapler and we repaired the hole in the fence. We’ll see if the rabbit tries again.

A perfect little bunny-sized hole nibbled through the mesh fence.

Hopefully the repairs will keep the tricky little bunny out.

After the quick emergency fence repair I harvested some spinach, more arugula and all the pak choi. It had rained the night before so the greens were gritty with dirt. I gave them all my standard triple rinse then ran them through the salad spinner.

The day’s harvest

I froze a lot of the pak choi. I chopped it up, blanched it two minutes in boiling water and then plunged it into ice water. After letting it dry off a bit on some paper towels, I packed it into a quart freezer bag. I also fridge-pickled some of it in a simple brine of 1 cup of white vinegar, ½ a cup of water, 1 tbsp. of sugar, ½ tbsp. of salt and some fennel seeds. I’ve never had pickled pak choi before. I’ll give it a week or so and then see what it tastes like.

Two pints of pickled pak choi

I’m going to use most of this round of arugula for my lunches this week but I also used some in a salad today. I mixed four servings of cooked and cooled pasta with a can of rinsed kidney beans and a couple good handfuls of chopped arugula. I dressed it with 1 ½ tbsp. of oil, 1 tbsp. of lemon juice and some salt and black pepper and then sprinkled some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. It made a great light meal for a hot, humid day and all the subtle flavors worked really well together.

Mmm, pasta with fresh arugula and beans