Chinese cabbage plants and garlic... ??

About a month ago I called a local nursery (http://effingergarden.com/) and asked if they had Chinese cabbage plants. They said they did have some  but they were very small. I took a chance and bought 6 anyway and planted them.
    
As the plants grew, I discovered they were Bok Choy. I called the nursery and told them I wanted Chinese cabbage and they had sold me Bok Choy. The owner told me, "It's the same thing"...  "NO IT'S NOT.. goodbye".

Yesterday I went to a local veggie farm  (https://www.facebook.com/Scharf-Farm-188758594507335/)  and bought 8 garlic bulbs to plant. When I got home I thought I would call the farm and ask what would be the best time to plant the garlic. The lady I talked to said she didn't know when to plant because they BOUGHT the garlic.

I asked if the garlic had been treated to retard sprouting like the store bought garlic. She said, "Duh.. I don't know if it has been treated or not".   Looks like I have 8 heads of garlic to give away.

Lucky for me, I had ordered what I hope to be enough inchelium red garlic to fill my 2x8 bed.

MrBooker wrote:About a month ago I called a local nursery (http://effingergarden.com/) and asked if they had Chinese cabbage plants. They said they did have some  but they were very small. I took a chance and bought 6 anyway and planted them.
    
As the plants grew, I discovered they were Bok Choy. I called the nursery and told them I wanted Chinese cabbage and they had sold me Bok Choy. The owner told me, "It's the same thing"...  "NO IT'S NOT.. goodbye".

Yesterday I went to a local veggie farm  (https://www.facebook.com/Scharf-Farm-188758594507335/)  and bought 8 garlic bulbs to plant. When I got home I thought I would call the farm and ask what would be the best time to plant the garlic. The lady I talked to said she didn't know when to plant because they BOUGHT the garlic.

I asked if the garlic had been treated to retard sprouting like the store bought garlic. She said, "Duh.. I don't know if it has been treated or not".   Looks like I have 8 heads of garlic to give away.

Lucky for me, I had ordered what I hope to be enough inchelium red garlic to fill my 2x8 bed.

I've had the same problem buying groceries! My (not the slightest bit Asian) family used the words the way you do. Saying "Napa cabbage" seems to have a higher degree of success in communicating what I mean than Chinese cabbage, but even then, Bok Choy seems more popular so people will still assume that's what I mean. Even though Chinese cabbage looks like a oblong head of CABBAGE and bok choy looks more like... celery or something.

According to Wikipedia ...

"Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa, subspecies pekinensis and chinensis) can refer to two groups of Chinese leaf vegetables often used in Chinese cuisine: the Pekinensis Group (napa cabbage) and the Chinensis Group (bok choy)."


So the nursery was not wrong in selling Bok Choy as Chinese Cabbage since it is a type of Chinese Cabbage. 

TD, Thanks for posting this info.

I have 3 garlic sprouts that volunteered in my bed that had squash, peas, and cukes during the spring/summer.  I fluffed up, added compost and planted mustard, lettuce and bok choy about 2 weeks ago.  Guess I must have missed some garlic when I harvested in June.     Garlic is going into the sweet potato tubs this year.

Kay