table mustard greens are an easy - to - develop spring plant that loves cool weather . mustard greens greens are also scrumptious , lending their zippy flavor to salads when the super C are unseasoned and evoke - fries when they ’re matured . If you ’ve never had the pleasure of try out the spicy bite of mustard green , you ’re miss out on one of the garden ’s bully treasures .
How To Plant Mustard Greens
Mustard greens are cool - weather condition crop that should be planted either in the early spring or the late summer . During spicy conditions the plant will run off or go to flower , change their flavor and terminate the production of fresh leaves . Though I plant two crops of this jet per year , I find fall harvests particularly flavorful .
well rise by lineal seeding , Indian mustard viridity are one of the easiestcool - season vegetablesto grow . Simply plant seeds about 1/4 column inch bass and 1 in asunder in rows or auction block . The seeds will pullulate just a few day after .
Harvesting Mustard Greens
Most mustard greens are quick to reap as baby greens 20 to 30 days after sowing . That said , I prefer to allow mine reach maturity , when their large , velvety leaves have reached peak flavor . Baby greens can be harvested with a incisive pair of shear , snipping off the whole industrial plant just above the pennant . To glean ripe leaf mustard greens , just snap off the outermost leaves with your pollex and forefinger , leave the grow point intact . Picking them in this manner turn on the industrial plant to produce subsequent peak of harvestable leaves , extending the harvest for many weeks .
Mustard Greens & Heat
When summer ’s heat arrives , mustard salmagundi will go off or go to flower . When this happen , the leaves plow either very spicy or bitter . When the harvest ends , pull the plants out and toss them in the compost pile , or leave the bloom for pollinator . finally , seed pods will form and dry out on the plants . These seeds can be allowed to drop to the background where they ’ll re - sprout in the autumn when the weather cools again . The semen can also be collected and saved for replanting the following spring . The resulting plants may or may not be the same miscellany as the parent plants , depending on whether the sort is open - pollinated or hybrid , but there ’s a good chance they ’ll be flavorful and well worth growing . Jaesung An / Pixabay
The Best Varieties Of Mustard Greens
These gorgeous and pungent putting surface are dead beautiful plants , too . Many mixed bag , such as Dragon Tongue , Red Giant and Garnet Giant , have deep purple leave with unripe venation , make them real stand - outs in the garden . Other diverseness are self-coloured green . Frilly folio types bestow even more pastime with their deeply serrated , feathery foliage . fantabulous frilly leaf mustard diverseness admit Red Splendor , Ruby Streaks , Golden Frills and Scarlet Frills , all of which pack a flavourful punch in their gorgeous good expression .
In addition to the Hellenic varieties of leaf mustard K mentioned above , another variety is well deserving growing . Though it is n’t a true mustard , Malachai is worth including in your fall and spring garden . This variety is a Komatsuna character that ’s a intermixture of mustard green andspinach . The leaves are late green , thick and lustrous . They taste like mustard greens but have the more succulent grain of spinach . And , unlike true mustards , Malachai does n’t seem to be bothered by flea beetles .
The following five Indian mustard honey oil are top - snick :
The standard for purple - bequeath leaf mustard diversity , Red Giant produce gigantic leave that are thick purple with medium dark-green veins . Ready to blame at thebaby stageat just 25 day or the full - leaf sizing in 45 . Their spice is unforgettable , and their effective face in the garden ca n’t be beat .
jimmy for its lacy , soft leave , Ruby Streaks has purple - tinge leave with green mid - ribs . It ’s also a peachy mustard greens green change for late - summer planting . Baby greens are ready to glean in just 20 days from seed , the flavor is mild with a tangy bite .
The highly ruffled , hopeful green leaves of Green Wave reckon a bit like kail , but their flavor is far more spicy . Green Wave cooks beautifully and holds up in the goat god . extremely productive and quick to harvest in 45 twenty-four hour period as mature mustard greens . This is one of the mostbolt - resistantmustard varieties on the marketplace .
Jaesung An/Pixabay
Another vino - colored mustard miscellany , these declamatory folio are crunchy and crinkly with white-hot mid - rib . fall - utter gorgeous and flavorful , this is a motley that ’s a bit on the mild side compare to some others .
Fast grow with highly serrate , feathery leafage , Tye Dye makes a sensational ornamental when mixed with peak and foliage plantsin containersand raise bed . Plant more seeds every few weeks for a continuous harvest .
How To Enjoy Mustard Greens
No matter which varieties you grow , enjoying their savour is always the best part . Baby mustard greens , harvested early in their ontogenesis cycle , can be append unsanded to salad or sandwiches where their risque flavor will wake up your mouthful bud . Baby , as well as mature mustard leaves , are also first-class when braise , pissed off , sautéed or call forth - fried . One of my favorite ways to enjoy mustard greens is sautéed in olive vegetable oil with minced Allium sativum and then top with a mizzle of balsamic vinegar .
Managing Flea Beetles On Mustard Greens
Ifflea beetlesbecome baffling , bed that most plant will outgrow this picayune pest , and though the insects pull up stakes pock - score foliage behind , flea mallet feeding does not alter the flavor of mustard greens . I simply put up with the damage they cause and snub the little fix they create in the leaves .
If you ’re grow commercially and ca n’t endure marred foliage on your market standpoint , place yellow gluey cards down your rows of mustard Green to attract and trap the grownup beetles . Other options include sprays of kaolin clay - base products ( such as Surround ) to protect the plant from feeding damage and spring soil applications ofbeneficial nematodesto onset and down the ground - dwelling flea beetle larvae . As a last resort , pyrethrins will also oppress this pest , but use them with caution .
