Skip to main content
Super mizuna
Versatile Japanese greens are best sown now for an autumn harvest, says MAT COWARD

MIZUNA is one of the most commonly grown oriental brassicas in this country, and for good reasons. It’s a pretty easy crop to succeed with, and it’s a particularly versatile foodstuff. It’s mild but not bland flavour and its crisp texture mean it’s equally good raw or lightly cooked. Mizuna isn’t the sort of vegetable that rudely dominates a meal, so you can use it with almost anything.

You may find the seeds on sale under the name Japanese greens, or as mizuna. Although, with a little trouble, it can be grown almost all year round, for me mizuna has always done best sown round about now for an autumn harvest. 

Very hot, dry weather doesn’t agree with it, which is why I rarely sow it before midsummer. Of course, the shifting seasons caused by climate change mean that many established sowing dates are having to be revised.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
The Porteous Mob, by James Drummond
Rebel Britannia / 26 April 2025
26 April 2025

Edinburgh can take great pride in an episode of its history where a murderous captain of the city guard was brought to justice by a righteous crowd — and nobody snitched to Westminster in the aftermath, writes MAT COWARD

 

Tree spinach
Features / 12 April 2025
12 April 2025
Well, MAT COWARD did, and here’s his introduction to it
INNOVATOR: Postgate, pictured in 1970
Features / 6 April 2025
6 April 2025
MAT COWARD introduces the creator of the Good Food Guide, communist and crime fiction writer – Raymond Postgate
Crime fiction / 1 April 2025
1 April 2025
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
Similar stories
Gardening / 8 February 2025
8 February 2025
MAT COWARD battles wayward pigeons in pursuit of a crop of purple sprouting broccoli
ARTICHOKES GALORE: (L to R) Growing in a allotment and cooke
Gardening / 3 January 2025
3 January 2025
Although there’s not much growing in the garden in January, globe artichokes are worth a try if you follow these tips from MAT COWARD
Garlic chives on a plate
Gardening / 9 November 2024
9 November 2024
MAT COWARD declares this plant to be one that ‘everyone should grow’
Gardening / 21 September 2024
21 September 2024
Despite being tasty and nutritious, this root veg did not fit into the capitalist mould, so never won the popularity of the more durable potato, writes MAT COWARD