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  • DELIVERY INFO: Seed potatoes & onion/shallot sets are now being shipped. Plug plants will be shipped from late April onwards. See FAQs for further info.

Tatsoi (Autumn)

£3.99

Out of stock

An easy grower for autumn and winter

This is a lovely looking, easy-to-grow Chinese cabbage plant that can be harvested whole or used as a cut & come again for individual leaves for stir-fries (it tastes amazing with ginger, honey and soy sauce) and salads. It grows well at this time of year, when it is less prone to bolting. Keep tatsoi plants well protected from slugs and they should do well. The plug plants come with a growing guide.

Number of plug plants: 10 plug plants

Variety: Tatsoi (organic*)

In the kitchen: Try it in stir fries with ginger, say sauce, honey and garlic.

Delivery Info: Available to order now for delivery between September and mid/late October. Please see FAQs for up-to-date delivery info. Planting/Growing Advice: Plant in autumn approx 20-30cm apart in raised beds, traditional veg patches or in pots and planters. Protect against slugs, pigeons and cabbage white butterflies. They are frost tolerant so can be grown outside. When to harvest: Harvest whole once the plant reaches full size in late autumn/early winter, or harvest individual leaves to add to salads. When they go to seed, these plants will produce small yellow flowers and small broccoli-like florets - these are all edible too. *Transplants suitable for organic growing.
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Sun or partial shade

Lettuces and leaves need some sunshine, but will tolerate partial shade (and in fact this can often help to keep them cool and prevent them from bolting) and moisture-retentive soil.

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Great for beds, containers and planters

Lettuces and salad leaves don’t require a lot of space, making them perfect for growing in pots and containers, grow bags, planters and beds.

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How far apart?

As a general rule, give them about 15cm space. As always, you should check the instructions on each variety when you receive your baby plants to make sure you give them enough space.

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Keep them cool

Lettuces and salads will keep producing lots of leaves for several weeks if kept fairly cool – regular watering, mulching and growing them in partial shade can help. If they do get too hot, they are prone to ‘bolt’, and will stop producing leaves and instead start to form a flower/seed head.

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Protect from pests

Slugs, snails and rabbits are the main ones to watch out for… slug traps using cheap lager work well, and a 1-2ft tall fence around raised beds, made out of bamboo canes and chicken wire, will normally help to keep rabbits at bay.

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When to harvest

Most lettuces and leaves can be harvested as cut-and-come-again – just cut off the outer leaves, leaving a few smaller leaves in the centre, on a regular basis.

For those that form a heart, like little gem, wait until they have matured and cut off at the stalk.

Plants bolting

In hot, dry conditions or sudden cold spells, lettuces and salad leaves can get stressed and will rush to produce flowers and seeds rather than producing lots of leaves. Once this has happened you cannot reverse it, so the best thing to do to try and prevent it is add a good layer of mulch around vulnerable plants to keep them from drying out, this will also help to keep the soil a little warmer on cold days.


Slugs & Snails

Lettuces and leaves are very popular with slugs and snails – keep them protected (try beer traps, eggshell/grit, copper tape etc) and remove any slugs that you see.


Rabbits

Try to protect your leaves from rabbits if they are a problem in your plot – a simple 2 foot high fence made from chicken wire and bamboo canes is usually sufficient to deter them, but the more persistent rabbits will burrow underneath the fence, so be prepared to dig the chicken wire into the ground if needed.


Flea beetle

Tiny round holes in leaves, particularly in stronger leaves like wild rocket and mizuna is inevitably flea beetle. Where this is a problem, you can try using an insect proof mesh and mulching the plants to keep the soil moist and cool will help (they are more active in hot dry weather). You can still eat the leaves if they have holes in so don’t give up on them!


Storage Tips

We really recommend picking what you need, when you need it. But they will keep in the fridge unwashed in a food bag for a couple of days.

Ways to cook

It’s not all about salads, although freshly cut lettuce from the garden is one of the best things about summer salads! You can try making summer soups with wilted lettuce, pea and mint. And a lot of leaves are great in stir fries.

When we deliver
We deliver these plug plants between September and mid/late October, although it’s a little dependent on the weather.

You can order from…
These plug plants are available to be ordered now and we’ll despatch them as soon as they are big enough to both handle the journey to your garden and handle life outside the poly tunnel.

Do I need to sign for them?
All our plant orders are dispatched with an overnight courier* to mainland UK and do not need to be signed for when they are delivered, but will be left somewhere safe. When placing your order, please let us know where you would like the plants left if you are not in when the courier delivers.

We will keep you posted
You will receive an email approximately a week before your order is dispatched and another on the day your plants are packed and leave us so you know to expect and prepare for their arrival.