Mizuna (Asian greens): growing and companion plants

Other names

Japanese mustard greens, spider mustard

Botanical name

Brassica rapa var. japonica

Family / Genus

Brassicaceae / Brassica

Plant category

Leaf Salad

Peter Turner Photography/Shutterstock.com

Asian greens aren't actually salad plants — they belong to the brassica family, more specifically to the leaf mustard group. That explains their more or less piquant, mustardy flavour. Pak choi, which you'll often find sold as a stir-fry vegetable, belongs to the same family and works just as well as a baby-leaf addition to your salad bowl.

Facts and figures

Light requirements

Sun / partial shade

Nutrient requirements

Medium feeder

Difficulty level

Easy

Culture (according to Gertrud Franck)

C - low growth, short growing period

Culture (according to Sister C. Weinrich)

Companion crop

Growing period

40 days

Row spacing

20 cm

Plant spacing

20 cm

Growth height

20 - 80 cm

Sowing depth

1 cm

Germination temperature (minimum)

12 °C

Germination temperature (optimal)

15 - 20 °C

Germination type

Light

Planting & harvest times of Mizuna (Asian greens)

Direct sowing

Harvest

OutdoorsDirect sowing from Early March to Late September. After a growing period of 40 days, harvest can begin around Mid April and continues until Late October.

GreenhouseDirect sowing from Early January to Late December. After a growing period of 40 days, harvest can begin around Early January and continues until Late December.

Sow Mizuna (Asian greens)

You can grow them in rows as indicated. The spacing given is fairly generous, allowing you to grow larger plants. For baby-leaf salad, you can reduce the spacing. Or broadcast sow them in a weed-free bed.

In a greenhouse, you can grow them all year round.

Good and bad companions of Mizuna (Asian greens)

Very good neighbours

Good neighbours

Bad neighbours

Predecessors and successors of Mizuna (Asian greens)

If you only ever grow Asian greens in small strips alongside other crops, you can largely ignore crop rotation. But if you dedicate a whole bed to them, stick to the usual 3-year break before growing them or other brassicas in the same spot again.

Good predecessors

Bad predecessors

Very bad predecessors

Good successors

Bad successors

Lollo biando / Lollo rosso

Very bad successors

Crop rotation

What stood on that bed three years ago is hard to recall come spring. grove remembers. Once you have planned with it for a few seasons it knows your beds and warns you as you plant when a growing break is still running. The other way round, grove points you to the spots where Mizuna (Asian greens) fits particularly well right now.

As green manure before Mizuna (Asian greens), grove suggests Sunflower good for example, provided the crop before it fits as well.

Broccoli very poor, Cauliflower very poor, Oil radish very poor and 16 more plants may only return to the same spot after 4 years. grove still remembers that three years from now.

And as soon as next year is planned, the Garden Fairy looks for the right green manure for the cold season in between all by itself, Phacelia for example. How the Garden Fairy works

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Diseases and pests

Susceptible to

Alternaria leaf spot of brassicas

Cabbage aphid

Cabbage moth

Cabbage root fly

Cabbage whitefly

Cabbage whites

Clubroot

Diamondback moth

Downy mildew of brassicas

Flea beetles(high susceptibility)

Swede midge

Harvest and processing

You can pick the leaves young as baby-leaf or let them grow bigger for stir-fry dishes. Even when the plants flower, the leaves stay tasty. Just avoid the tough flower stalks.

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