Mizuna
The delicate peppery leaves of Mizuna are an essential part of every veg patch. You can start harvesting 4 weeks from putting seeds in the ground, and it's a 'cut and come again' plant. Just chop all the leaves off leaving about 1in poking out of the soil and it'll re-grow 4-5 times.
I hold off sowing until the start of July because earlier in the year it will attract flea beetles that will pepper the leaves with holes, and it will bolt - rush up an produce flowers instead of leaves.
It's the perfect crop for salad leaves right through the autumn and winter, where it can even withstand temperatures down to minus 15 degrees.
Time from seed to plate: 4 weeks
Sowing Calendar
Sow
Whilst the main sowing period for mibuna is July to September, you can sneak some in in March or April for an early harvest before the flea beetles/summer heat arrives to encourage it to bolt.
Sow Mibuna by creating a shallow groove across your bed and sprinkling in seeds to leave one every one to two inches. Firm the soil back and water well. Leave 12 inches between rows.
If we're short of space, or want to get the plants off to a quick start we sow our seeds in gutters filled with compost. Thin them to leave 3 inches between plants, then about four weeks after sowing plant them out individually in your plot, leaving 6 inches between plants and 12 inches between rows. Have a look at the video.
Grow
Thin your seedlings to leave one plant every 6in or so.
Keep an eye out for caterpillars and pick them off by hand.
Harvest
Mizuna leaves grow to 8in, but they're at their best when they're half this size.
In the summer when it's growing fast, pick by chopping everything off to leave behind a stump 2in above ground. This will quickly re-grow.
In the winter when it's growing more slowly, it pays to be a little gentler. 'Pick round' by pulling off the outside leaves, letting the centre ones carry on growing uncut.
Like all salad leaves, immerse the leaves in cold water for five minutes after picking to plump them up.