Mizuna looks like lettuce, it is very similar to arugula, but it’s actually a type of cabbage. A crunchy texture and peppery taste are what make it much sought after.
| Name | Brassica rapa japonica |
|---|---|
| Family | Brassicaceae |
| Type | leaf vegetable |
| Exposure | full sun |
| Soil | well drained, rather rich |
| Height | 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) |
| Harvest | spring, summer, autumn, winter |
Mizuna cabbage is sown from spring until the beginning of winter.
When the first leaves appear, thin and keep the most vigorous seedlings, about one every 8 inches (20 cm).
If you purchase seedlings that are ready to plant, it is possible to plant them all summer long, even until the beginning of winter, but you must protect the plants from from freezing.
It isn’t necessary to bury the root crown completely.
Note that mizuna is perfectly suited to growing in pots.
Slugs will be a bane for your mizuna greens during their entire life cycle.
Mizuna can be started almost all year round, but the method changes with the season. Here is how the article’s four options compare.
| Method | When | Where and protection | Point to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct sowing in the vegetable patch | Early summer to late summer | Loose soil outdoors, furrows ½ inch (1 cm) deep, 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) apart | Shade cloth during heat waves; thin to one plant every 8 inches (20 cm) |
| Sowing under cover | From late autumn on | Tunnel greenhouse or unheated greenhouse | Keep the soil a bit moist |
| Planting bought seedlings | All summer, even until early winter | Open ground or pots, root crown left partly exposed | Plants must be protected from freezing |
| Sowing for a winter harvest | Mid-autumn to early winter | Under protective cover, mulched with dried leaves | Mulch guards the plants against frost |
Whichever route you take, shallow roots mean the soil must never be allowed to dry out.
Easy to care for, mizuna cabbage is mostly only vulnerable to early bolting, which would keep the head from shaping up well.
Stay on the lookout for a dainty white butterfly. Its caterpillars would ruin your harvest.
A mulch of straw or grass clippings around the plants keeps the shallow roots cooler and more evenly moist, which reduces the heat and drought stress that can encourage early bolting.
Once a mizuna plant bolts, its leaves toughen and turn noticeably sharper in flavour, though the flowering shoots remain edible, so harvest those shoots and sow a fresh batch for tender leaves.
Cover the row with fine insect mesh to stop cabbage white butterflies laying at all.
Flea beetles pit mizuna leaves with tiny round shot-holes during warm, dry spells; young seedlings suffer most, and covering the bed with fine insect netting at sowing is the most reliable protection.
Mizuna needs more or less 3 weeks lead time before harvest.
Harvesting in winter is perfectly possible.
Mizuna contains vitamins A and C and calcium, too. Leek can be eaten both raw and cooked.
Pick in the cool of the morning, while the leaves are still turgid and crunchy.
As you till, provide your soil with nutrients (fertilizer, compost) to boost growth and enhance your harvest!
