I start some indoors at the same time as cabbage and broccoli. For me that is starting at March 22nd and setting out at April 15th.

I started my Pac Choi on 2/10 last year and set out on 3/20. It weathered the frosts without a problem and came out great. Harvest started on 5/1.

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Bok Choy does fine if you plant it early and grow it fast like lettuce. If it bolts, eat it anyway. Some say the flowering heads are better than the leaves. I liked them a lot too.

Toi Choi is a great variety to try. I'm growing Ching Chang this year.

Thank you so much! This is exactly the information that I was looking for. I think I just started too late last year.

I'm actually trying out Choy Sum this year. I really wish I'd ordered the Ching Chang (Chiang), too. I just heard the green stalk Bok Choy is really good.

Clumsygrdner - where do you get your seeds? I can't find any information about Toi Choi. I usually order my Asian vegetables from evergreen seeds.

Bellatrix

Here is a link that might be useful: Evergreen Seeds

Last summer, based on the recommendation of someone on the Asian Vegetable forum, I grew Mei-Qing-Choi, which is a variety of the Ching Chang type bok choy. I direct seeded it in early summer and it did not bolt quickly. It was very good tasting at various stages of growth.

Jim

Here's the link.

I can't find any who sell it locally but my family loved it the two years I planted it. I grew it in succession.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toy choi hybrid

I've grown Toy Choy too and liked it a lot. I harvested it very small, at the stage where each plant was about two mouths full. Cooked whole at that size they are very beautiful.

Jim

Bok Choy seems to respond to any stress by bolting. The stress can be temperatures too cold or too hot and maybe it's the variability of temps, also.

I can overcome the too cold and variability issues by growing under plastic in early Spring. I start bok choy in a heated greenhouse near the end of February and transplant into a plastic tunnel by March 21st.

Setting up the tunnel early leads to collapsing problems from late Winter snow storms . . .

Transplants for outdoors can have both about a 2 week later sowing date in the greenhouse and a couple weeks later transplanting to the outdoor garden. (sowing in greenhouse, 1st week of March; transplanting outdoors, mid to late April) It doesn't help to have the plants hit too hard or often by frost - bolting occurs while the plants are still very small.

Direct seeding in the tunnel can be done about March 21st and in the garden in mid-April. So, you see, I'm putting transplants and seeds in at the same time during the Spring. Direct seeding continues about every 2 weeks thru that season. The Fall crop of bok choy is good but I can grow really nice plants in the Spring if they just aren't too stressed from frost.

I gotta say that my zone 6a designation is something of a stretch. I live in a cool Spring area because of the nearness of the Pacific Ocean but with mountains between and nearly 400 miles distance - it is much drier and warmer here in the Summer. Sometimes, we have only an inch of precip thru the Summer months. So, it is cool & cloudy then hot & dry.

And, I like those dwarf bok choy varieties! Best of luck!

Steve