The Tasty Veggie You Should Start From Seed In Late Winter To Enjoy In Spring

Growing your own veggies at home not only can save you money, but also lets you add a wider variety of ingredients to home cooked meals. If you're looking for a tasty, easy to grow vegetable, try bok choy, an Asian cuisine staple. By starting your seeds in late winter, you can enjoy a bountiful spring harvest of the slightly sweet cabbage flavor in stir fries, rice, and other dishes. The cool-weather crop can be started indoors, growing inside for two weeks until you transplant it outside. When it's time for the spring harvest, you'll have a cluster of thick, celery-like white stalks topped with green leaves ready for cooking. The best part of choosing to start this veggie in the winter is the entire plant, not just the leaves, is edible.

Bok choy's name derived from the Cantonese words for "white vegetable." It features a crisp bite with a flavor similar to cabbage, but its taste varies based on the plant's growth. You may see baby bok choy in a store salad mix, and because these leaves are from a young plant, they taste more like lettuce. However, mature bok choy develops a more mustardy taste — fitting as it belongs to the Brassicaceae genus, which includes mustard plants. Whether you enjoy it when it's young or more mature, you can easily establish a healthy, thriving plant from seeds. You can plant this veggie in your garden or even grow it in your house or apartment.

Bok choy comes in varieties that differ in size and shades of green, including Asian Delight, Black Summer, and Shanghai Green. Determine which variety you want to plant, then find the seeds from a reputable supplier. You can start your plants in a seedling tray or even reuse empty food containers as a seed starter option, but wash them thoroughly before planting. Fill the containers with potting mix, such as Miracle-Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix. Sprinkle in the seeds and cover them with ¼ inch of soil mix. If it's cold, you may need a warming mat as seeds need soil that's at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate.

Once you have your seeds planted, mist the top of the soil lightly to give the seeds adequate moisture. Don't overwater or you risk disease or root rot, you only want it moist, ideally with a humidity dome. Now comes the most important aspect of seeds' growth: sunlight. You need a spot with at least six hours of full sun. You may need to supplement with a grow light to help your indoor plants flourish. Germination takes around 7 to 10 days. For stronger plants, you can use a fan to simulate the wind as it lightly blows on the seedlings. 

After two weeks, transplant into the garden when soil hits a minimum of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and your plants have at least 4 leaves. After hardening off the seedlings, plant them 6 to 12 inches apart. You can harvest early, but it's common to harvest when the plant is 1 foot tall.