Mustard Greens

Scientific name: Brassica juncea
Brassica juncea
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Type:
Annual
USDA hardiness zones:
-

Also known as Chinese Mustard or Indian Mustard.

Mustard Greens, also known as Chinese mustard and Indian mustard, are a peppery tasting cool-season salad green. Attractive enough for the ornamental landscape plants can be used even after bolting as flowers and seedpods are edible. Mustard is cool-season leaf crop with peppery edible leaves and seeds which produce a distinctive condiment. There are many species of mustard, three species in particular produce seeds for different mustards, B. nigra has black seeds, B. alba has yellow seeds and B. juncea has brown seeds and therefore makes brown mustard.

  • Easy

Sow seeds directly into the garden every two weeks from early spring to late summer for sequential harvesting. Sow seeds ¼ to ½ inch (5 mm to 1 cm), every 1 inch (2.5 cm) in rows 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) apart.

Thin from 6 to 18 inches (15 to 45 cm) depending on the size of the variety being grown. Higher temperatures and increasing daylength will cause bolting. High heat and less water will cause flavor to increase in strength. Rotate mustards and other cole (cabbage) crops on a 3 to 4 year cycle to prevent disease build up. Floating row covers can help prevent early insect infestations.

Sow again in the early fall for a second crop. Leaves should be harvested while tender and young, and can be done a few leaves at a time, allowing the plant to survive and go on to seed production.

Seeds are harvested when plants begin to go yellow. Leave the seed pods on the plants as long as possible however, when they are ripe the pods will burst scattering seed so watch them diligently as they dry and cut them before they rupture. Seeds are dries in the sun 4 to 10 days before grinding.

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Gardens with this plant

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Groundskeeper replied almost 3 years ago
Sharp Leaves, Mustard Greens - This is a sharp, almost biting leafy green, long grown in the East, where it originated, and now a worldwide veggie. The plant grows as a shaggy cluster of leaves that you cut as they mature, leaving the younger leaves to keep growing. The leaves are high in vitamins K, A, and C, and in folate, not to mention flavor. They can be steamed and dressed, sauteed with oil, butter or bacon, or shredded and mixed into salads, sparingly by the cautious, abundantly by the adventurous. There are rumors of gardeners eating leaves raw.
Groundskeeper replied almost 3 years ago
This potherb is in the shape-shifting cabbage family, which has produced wildly different forms--head cabbage with tightly wrapped leaves like the rings of an onion, rutabaga and turnip (essentially fat roots, different species) and kohlrabi, which looks like a bocce ball sprouting leaves. The seeds of mustard greens, brown and acrid, are an ingredient of Dijon mustard.

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