Brassica rapa var. rosularis
Tatsoi cabbage, spoon cabbage, Chinese flat cabbage, rosette pak choi: its distinctive feature is striking — it grows in a perfectly flat rosette, pressed against the ground like a green star, with round, spoon-shaped leaves arranged in a spiral. It is also one of the hardiest leafy vegetables there is, capable of regrowing after temperatures as low as -10 °C.
Characteristics:
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Decorative flat rosette: round, dark green, spoon-shaped leaves arranged in a star at ground level.
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Delicate flavor: mild and slightly mustardy, excellent raw or stir-fried.
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Very hardy: it tolerates frost and can be harvested in the middle of winter.
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Fast growth: 6 to 8 weeks from sowing to harvest.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny, but it dislikes warm conditions — favor the cooler seasons.
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Soil: rich, well-aerated, and kept moist. Add well-rotted organic fertilizer when preparing the soil. The critical point: the soil must never dry out, otherwise the plant will bolt immediately.
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Method: sow directly in place, 1 cm deep. The soil must be warm enough for germination, but the crop should grow in cool conditions: therefore favor late-summer sowings (August–September) for an autumn and winter harvest, or very early spring sowings. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Thin to 20 cm apart — the rosette needs room to spread flat. Water regularly and mulch.
- An insect-proof mesh effectively protects the plants from flea beetles, which riddle young leaves with holes.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest the outer leaves as needed while leaving the center to continue growing, or cut the entire rosette at the base.
- Tip: leaves harvested after a light frost are noticeably milder and sweeter.
Beneficial companion plants:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its ground-hugging rosette forms dense ground cover that protects the soil throughout winter, when the vegetable garden would otherwise be bare.
- If left to flower in spring, it produces clusters of highly nectar-rich yellow flowers, valuable during this transitional season.
Uses:
- Young leaves raw in salads, where their spoon shape looks attractive; larger leaves stir-fried in a wok, added to soups, or used in broths. Add them right at the end of cooking, as they cook in just a few seconds.
Saving your own seeds:
Leave one plant to go to seed in spring: it will form long siliques, which should be harvested when brown and dry. Be careful: Brassica rapa varieties cross-pollinate easily with one another (turnips, pak choi, mizuna), so isolate your seed plant. See how to save your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully cleaned and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
A green star at ground level, ready to harvest in the middle of winter.
