Pechay is one of my favorite vegetables that I wanted to be in the menu always. Bok Choy, as others may call it, can be eaten raw or cooked. Both preparations are great if you wanted to savor the taste of this simple yet loaded with essential nutrients such as Vitamin A, C, Calcium, protein and more. Pak Choy is also a good source of dietary fiber that strengthens our colon and help sound bowel movement.
Things
to consider before planting Pechay Garden Location and
Soil Preparation
- Water Source
- Surrounding Livestock and wild animals
- Seed Bed Preparation, Location and Soil
How
to Sow the pechay seeds
- Garden Location and Land Preparation: The garden must be in a location where there is at least 5 hours of direct sunlight. This is to ensure that your Bok Choy will not rot and will become a compost early before the expected date of harvest. As usual, your garden must be free from all types of weed and leaf eating bugs.
In preparing the soil,
be sure that it is well pulverized and is rich with organic matter
such as animal manure and vermi-casts. Pulverizing the soil of your garden is
needed in order to provide proper water drainage when this soil is already
formed into a raised plot (which we will discuss later in a different
sub-topic).
- Water Source: Pechay / Bok Choy Plant, need plenty of water to compensate its rapid growth. During hot days, you need to water this plant twice a day (early morning and late afternoon).
- Surrounding Livestock and Wild Animals: Pechay is very sensitive to trampling, once pressed by a certain weight then expect that this plant is considered dead. Also, most of the wild animals love eating this vegetable hence, make it sure that you will not grant them access to your BokChoy Garden.
- Seed Bed Preparation, Location and Soil: Although Pak Choi seeds can be sown directly into your plot but I don’t recommend doing this simply for the following reasons, *The Pak Choy seeds are very small and their color is like that of our soil. Putting Pak Choy seeds directly to your plot entails a lot of attention and time consuming. *We are absolutely not certain that all seeds will grow thus, sowing them directly will give us either an uneven distribution of the plant’s seed or over sowing.
Before making a seed bed, consider determining the
number of pechay seeds that you intend to grow. As a guide, 100
Pechay seeds need 1 square foot of seed bed. Once you have already determined
the number of seeds then proceed doing the following:
4. Seed
Bed Location: Be sure that your seed bed is situated on an area where
there is enough hours of sunlight.
- Soil/Medium: You can buy it from your local agricultural/gardening stores or make your own. To make your own medium, follow my recommended ratio: 1:2 1 kilo of Vermicasts Per 2 kilos of Soil. Sprinkle it with ample amount of water, then allow the mixture to settle for an hour and then start sowing your seeds.
·
Cover your seed bed with
either a cellophane or a plastic mesh / net. Be sure that your cover
is not touching the seed bed, there must be a gap of at least 4 inches
between them.
How to Sow Pechay Seeds: Using a popsicle stick, make a horizontal line in your seed bed. The depth of the line must not be more than 3cm, going deeper than this then you are risking the germination potential of your pechay seeds. To maintain the depth, just take a ruler and make a 3 cm mark to your popsicle stick –that line will be your depth reference.
After creating the lines with the necessary depth in
your seed bed, start sowing the Bok Choy seeds. Make it sure
that seeds will fall exactly in the middle of the line that you have created. Do
NOT cover the seeds yet,continue sowing until all lines are filled
with the pechay seeds. Once the seeds are all set, grab a handful of seed bed
soil and sprinkle it over the lines until completely covered. Then using a
garden spray bottle, spray the entire seed bed till moist and cover it.
Pechay: 7 Days After Sowing (DAS)
Note: Pechay Seeds will start germinating 48
hours after sowing. Spray the seed bed with water once a day – do NOT soak it.
REFERENCES:
http://www.eco-philippines.com/how-to-plant-pechay-pak-choi-pak-choy-bok-choy/ http://www.eco-philippines.com/how-to-plant-pechay-pak-choi-pak-choy-bok-choy-part-2/ http://davaoagribiz.da.gov.ph/tipsdl/vegetables/pechay_production.pdf
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