This past week I continued with fall clean up. Most of the flower and perennial beds are in good shape, weeded, mulched and ready for winter. Also pruned and shaped my fig tree (not sure if it is the right time) before wheeling it into the garage for the winter.
Today’s post I am focusing on bok choy I transplanted into window box on September 1.
I had thickly sown some very old bok choy seeds in the garden early August hoping some of the seeds will germinate. Will you believe most germinated and needless to say needed thinning. Transplanted the thinning into window boxes. Below is one of them.
Bok Choy
As you can see from the above photo, something is obviously enjoying my Bok Choy. May be I should give in and use a spray.
Definitely overcrowded
Pulled every other bok choy plant and harvested some of the outer leaves of the remaining plants. Got 2+ pounds. Anxious to see how large the remaining plants will grow in the box now that they have more space and light.
Bok Choy After Thinning
Left: Red Giant Mustard. Right: Bok Choy
The Red Giant Mustard (all volunteers), about 1½ pounds, were harvested from the garden.
Still have lots of greens in the fridge that needed to be used so decided to experiment with oven drying the bok choy and mustard.
In Chinese cuisine, dried bok choy and dried mustard are used in soup.
Blanched Bok Choy ready for the oven
Blanched Red Giant Mustard ready for the oven
Placed the blanched bok choy and mustard in a 200°F oven (with oven door slightly ajar to allow moisture to escape) for 4 hours. Below photos show the results.
Bok Choy after 4 hours in the oven
Bok choy after 4 hours in the oven at 200°F. The leafy part was dry and crispy but the stem part still had a bit of moisture, decided to leave the tray on the counter. After 2 days of air drying the stems were also dry and crispy.
Red Giant Mustard after 4 hours in the oven
Red giant mustard after 4 hours in the oven at 200°F. Both the leafy part and the stems were dry and crispy. It appears given the same length of time and oven temperature the mustard dries faster.
After drying, 2 pounds of bok choy yielded about 4 ounces, 1½ pounds of mustard yielded about 3 ounces. Worth the time and effort not to mention electricity? Not sure. Packaged both in airtight container for later use in soup.
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Animals creating havoc
Some animals are digging into and overturning a few of my window boxes. The above is Shanghai Bok Choy.
Repositioned Shanghai Bok Choy
After repositioning the Shanghai bok choy I moved the window box to a shaded location for a few days and gave the plants some liquid fertilizer to minimize the shock and help them to recover.
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Fall Blooming Daisies
Does anyone know the name of the above Fall Blooming Daisy? A friend gave me a plant some years ago but she never knew the name.
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HELP!!!! Photo #4, titled “Left: Red Giant Mustard. Right: Bok Choy” and photo #6 titled “Blanched Red Giant Mustard ready for the oven” have extra space (wider band) after the caption. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the extra space? Thanks.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.
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Garden to Wok 
Your bok choy looks so fresh! I am jealous because it is definitely on of my favourite vegetables, but not used often enough in my mums cooking 😛
Beautiful photos!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hello Uru,
I am sure if you remind your Mum that bok choy is your favorite vegetable she will make it for you every time your return home from uni.
You definitely have a green thumb…your bok choy has certainly done great.
Hello Karen,
I wasn’t sure what kind of bok choy I was planting and was hoping they would be baby bok choy but they are not, still delicious though.
My seeds were very hit and miss. Beans grew and greens didn’t. Not sure why. I was using older seeds, but my current seeds–spinach–didn’t come up at all!
Hello Pooks,
Some years I have issues with current seeds spinach as well, sure wish I knew the reason.
Lovely choys. And I’m guessing that your daisies are chrysanthemums. They are what blooms now and they can have a daisy form.
Hello Daphne,
Thanks for the info the leaves do look like chrysanthemum leaves.
Great harvest Norma. I guess I’ll have to wrap up Figgy for the winter too. Poor thing had about 8 figs on again and then dropped them before they ripened. It’s definitely well watered so that’s not the problem. Maybe the pot is too big? I was trying to avoid having to transplant it so the pot was a little more than twice the size it came in. The leaves are also looking bad. Your Bok Choy looks great, it’s strange that you dry them though. Is the flavour intensified that way? I just dried a couple of batches of tomatoes, can’t wait to have them.
Hello Eva,
I am sure Figgy will do better next year and reward you with ripe figs. Yes, the flavor of dried bok choy is quite intense and a little can go a long way. You can buy dried bok choy and dried mustard at the Asian markets.
That’s some great looking bok choy. Too bad about the critter digging in the window box. Squirrels do that a lot here, especially when they are burying nuts for the winter.
Hello Dave,
Did not think of squirrels burying nuts should poke around in the box to see if I find any nuts, thanks for the info.
I enjoy your blogs very much. Your sprouting method is the best IMHO. I sprout every week using your method
Hello Diana,
Thanks, glad you found my sprouting method useful.
Interesting technique drying bok choy and mustard. I have dried kale but never considered drying a green with as much moisture as bok choy. May try next year when I have some mustard.
Hello David,
I guess that’s why it is recommended to blanch the bok choy before drying.
Can’t get over that overflowing box of bok choy – just fabulous! Sorry to see that overturned window box – such a sad sight…hopefully they recover without too much of a setback. I’m hoping to get some fig trees in the future & like you I will need to grow them in pots and then bring them indoors for the winter. Initially I was thinking that I would place them in the cold cellar in the basement but using the garage would be so much easier with stairs to deal with. How cold would you say it got in your garage?
Hello Margaret,
My overturned Shanghai bok choy have recovered and are growing well, will show a photo at a later post. I don’t know how cold my garage gets, it is attached to the house and there is a room above it. I place my fig tree by the outside wall.
Impressive bok choy! And what rascals would tip over your window boxes. I’ve also got a fig tree that I keep in a pot and am not sure when I should bring it in. Our daily highs are in the mid to high 60s and lows are starting to dip into the low 40s, but the fig tree shows no sign of being too cold.
Hello Jennifer,
I have not brought my fig tree into the garage as yet, going to do so as soon as I can get some help as it is dormant.
Those bok choy look fantastic, but what did you want to dry them?
Hello Angie,
Still had lots of greens in the fridge from previous harvest and did not want the bok choy to go to waste, this is one way to preserve them.
Hi Norma, your garden must be amazing, love bok choy!
Hello Cheri,
My garden is OK not amazing.
I am continually amazed by what you are able to grow in window boxes. It is interesting what you’ve done with the dried greens. I’ve never tried drying greens but have had great success oven drying zucchini. Do let us know how they are in soup.
Hello Michelle,
I have read about drying zucchini, should give that try. How do you use your dried zucchini?
lovin the imperfect leaves, symbol of organic plants!!!
lovin the green chips too, the store brought green chips is a very pricey healthy snack Norma
Hello Dedy,
I will be using the dried bok choy and dried mustard in soup (like the dried ones (choy kon) you find in Asian markets) not as a snack.
Your garden continues to amaze me, Norma. That bok choy looks so incredibly good. I harvested the last of my tomatoes, all green, on Saturday and made relish with them. Loved seeing your daisies, too. It looks like the last of my rose buds are blooming now. It’s raining pretty heavily and I think that will knock off most of the remaining petals. Winter is definitely coming.
Hello John,
I am going to get rid of my roses, the deer and the Japanese beetles will not leave them alone. Oh yes, winter is definitely coming, hope it is not a repeat of last winter.
Sorry but I can’t help with anything technical – I’m very challenged! I love the daisies and are they flowering now? Is that late? Something is definitely chewing on your harvest and my bet is that it’s the pesky caterpillars. Good luck! xx
Hello Charlie,
Yes, the daisies are flowering now, most of the year they are a ground cover and then suddenly, this time of year, they are in full bloom, so pretty.
That is very frustrating when you plant beautiful vegetables and fruits and these critters will just ruin it. I guess that is whey they are branded pests, right? Same thing is happening with my young orange and lemon trees. These guys are eating up the leaves. Your garden is just beautiful, Norma. Love those bok choys. 🙂
Hello Ray,
Sorry to hear about the damages done to your young orange and lemon trees hope they recovered.
Hooray for volunteers. I just love when that happens. Last year, we had these huge neon green worms destroy most of our tomatoes so I can understand but somehow you always manage to have such a pretty harvest, Norma =)
Hello Angela,
Volunteers always seem to do better than the seeds I sow.
I love Bok Choy so much – I would take it all even with those little holes!
Hello Alyssa,
The holes mean there may be worms on the leaves so I must wash each leaf carefully in salted water.
It looks very nice, Norma! 🙂
Hello Linda,
Thanks.
Your Bok Choy sure did well, even if those little pests decided to take a few bites. Great instructions on drying it too!
Hello Sandra,
Thanks, guess I should be grateful they, whatever they are, did not devour the whole plant.
Your bok choy looks absolutely amazing. I wish I could grow it.
Hello Kay,
Thanks, bok choy are easy to grow but one does need to have a sunny location.
I was inundated with little pests in my garden this year, so I totally understand the frustration that can bring. And the decisions of how to handle next time around. I absolutely love the drying of the bok choy and mustard to use later in soups!!!!! Definitely trying this.
Hello Susan,
I have also read about drying zucchini and carrots and may give that a try. Do you dehydrate any vegetable?
Choc Chip Uru says:
October 13, 2014 at 7:07 am
Your bok choy looks so fresh! I love bok choy a lot! Yum Yum Yummm!,😋
Hello Sophie,
Did you grow bok choy in your garden?
No.
I wish I could grow bok choy…yours sure look awesome…the crispy mustard and bok choy leaves sound very interesting…look forward to see it in soups.
I love the daisies pictures…a mood enhancer!
Hope you are having a wonderful week Norma 😀
Hello Juliana,
Bok choy is very easy to grow just needs a sunny location. Yes, the daisies are a mood enhancer. Have a great weekend.
Sharing bok choy with a few bugs still left some wonderful veggies!
I looked at your code through firebug and under the double wide captions you have two s and on the others you only have one.
Blanched Red Giant Mustard ready for the oven
You don’t need the empty one 🙂
This is what the skinny ones look like:
Bok Choy
Hello Maureen,
I am grateful the bugs did not devour the whole plant. I will try to figure out the instructions, thanks.
woops… the cut and paste didn’t work. anyway, you have an extra space and if you want me to email it I’d be happy to.
Hello Maureen,
Yes, please e-mail the instructions to me.
Oooo… gorgeous bok choy, it looks so fresh and yummy! My bok choy never seems to grow the best, I am a bit jealous, but least the farmers markets have a solid supply. 🙂
Hello Anna,
Good that you have farmers markets nearby to supply your needs.
Norma, our bok choy looks like that as well! We don’t spray, we’ve just learnt to ignore the holes and eat the leaves anyway.. 🙂
Hello Celia,
That’s what I have been doing, but still think if I spray, the plants will grow so much larger, difficult decision. Going to see if there are “friendly sprays” at the garden center.