What I have learned in the previous seasons on working the stuff in the garden is that starting stuff from seeds is a total hassle. Yes, eventually it will work out, but the time line on when you have to start to grow stuff, to the point where it actually germinates and grows in the pace where you want it to....So that it will be perfect to plant outside in the perfect time..
Well that is an illusion here in the Netherlands. Not a lot of daylight, so growlights in winter time, and putting in the heat for some stuff to germinate, well luckily the winter was cold on that behalf and we were using the heater inside the house, which also benefitted the seeds.
So a lot has germinated, but it is still so small. That is where it is nice that other options come in, for instance upcycling the veggies that you have already eaten. You probably know this from for instance using the last piece of spring onion. Put it in water and it will properly grow again.
Well, there are more veggies that have that ability. Bokchoi or paksoi is one of them.
The only thing you have to do when using the veggie is keeping the bottom part of the bokchoi and stick it with its butt on a a little dish with water, and make sure that it remains watered at all times.
This stuff grows fast
After just a couple of days (no not like the internet videos couple of days, this was literally just like 3 days or so) the first leaves start to appear from the inner heart of the bokchoi.
These leaves are growing steadily and are only using water in the process of it. As you can see I have already started a second project there because this one is growing like a madman.
I do make sure that this little dish catches some sunlight and it is also located next to the growing light so it might even catch some additional rays of light coming in from there, but this is turning out into a decent small plant. The good news of starting this all from inside: No slugs to steal the leaves because as it seems, slugs love eating bokchoi leaves. And no slugs inside here.
Every now and then I am able to peel off one of the lower leaves standing in the water and I see some root forming on the bottom, so it was time for a transplantation to soil at some point. Because I know that the interwebz says that you can grow these entirely in water. But it feels like at some point to get some nutricion in there it also needs some nutricion coming from the ground.
I have no idea if that is true actually....It just feels like it.
Into the ground you go!
Let's see what willen happen over there. Keeping the soil extremely moisted as the bokchoi loved to be in water, atleast when it was on the dish. The bokchoi has at least survived its transplantation which could be a tricky moment then, and it seems ready to continue growing on.
This one also doesn't seem to end up that compacted as the ones from the supermarket because, I might just harvest the outer leaves when I need some of them, and let the inside ones continue to grow on. I also saw you could do that with things like these and for instance lettuces.
The experimenting in the garden continues, the upcycling is fun stuff!