Pak Choi Rubi

Pak choi with deep purple-tinted leaves over pale crisp stems, as good in a border as in a vegetable bed. The colour holds through cooking, unlike many purple brassicas that turn a disappointing green in the pan.

Fast from seed — baby leaves in about a month, full heads in six to eight weeks. Both stem and leaf are used, stir-fried briefly or added to soup at the last moment.

Its one habit worth knowing is a tendency to bolt if sown too early or checked by cold or drought. Sow from late spring onwards, keep it watered, and it behaves. An August sowing crops well into autumn.