Mizuna and Mibuna

Mizuna and mibuna are quick-growing Japanese brassica greens with a mild spicy or mustard flavour. Eat young leaves raw or allow them to mature for steaming and stir-frying. The compact plants need little space, crop well in containers and can provide leaves across most of the year when sown repeatedly.

Both form leafy rosettes about 20cm tall and grow best during the cool damp conditions of spring and autumn. Late sowings often continue through winter beneath cloches or in an unheated greenhouse. They are especially useful as cut-and-come-again crops, producing several small pickings before flowering.

Mizuna and mibuna sound similar but look different. Mizuna makes loose, feathery rosettes of serrated or deeply divided leaves up to 20cm long, with a mild peppery flavour. Mibuna produces larger, denser clumps of narrow dark-green leaves with smooth margins and a light mustard taste.

Choose mizuna for decorative lacy foliage, including lime-green and reddish-purple selections, and mibuna for smooth narrow leaves in a dense upright clump. Both suit salads when young and light cooking when mature. Seed mixtures for winter salads often contain one or both.

Recommended varieties

Mizuna ‘Kyoto’

A well-flavoured, very hardy mizuna suitable for sowing throughout the year. Give winter crops protection for the best quality and continuity. ## 3 - Preparing The Ground Choose a site in sun or semi-shade. Light shade is useful for summer sowings because hot dry conditions encourage premature flowering. Both crops prefer slightly damp fertile soil, so remove weeds and incorporate generous garden compost or well-rotted manure to improve water retention. Lightly tread the prepared ground so it is firm, then rake the surface to a fine texture. Brassicas establish better in firm soil than in a loose newly dug seedbed. In a no-dig plot, apply organic matter as a surface mulch and sow or plant through it. These fast crops fit short-term gaps between slower vegetables, provided they can be harvested before the main crop needs the space. Avoid a heavily shaded or dry gap where leaves would grow weakly or bolt early. ## 4 - Sowing Mizuna and mibuna are easy to raise from seed indoors or outside, in soil, containers and growing bags. Sow little and often a few weeks apart. Protection makes near-year-round cropping possible, but mild damp spring and autumn weather gives the easiest growth.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Choose a site in sun or semi-shade. Light shade is useful for summer sowings because hot dry conditions encourage premature flowering. Both crops prefer slightly damp fertile soil, so remove weeds and incorporate generous garden compost or well-rotted manure to improve water retention.

Lightly tread the prepared ground so it is firm, then rake the surface to a fine texture. Brassicas establish better in firm soil than in a loose newly dug seedbed. In a no-dig plot, apply organic matter as a surface mulch and sow or plant through it.

These fast crops fit short-term gaps between slower vegetables, provided they can be harvested before the main crop needs the space. Avoid a heavily shaded or dry gap where leaves would grow weakly or bolt early.

Mizuna and mibuna are easy to raise from seed indoors or outside, in soil, containers and growing bags. Sow little and often a few weeks apart. Protection makes near-year-round cropping possible, but mild damp spring and autumn weather gives the easiest growth.

Plant well-rooted module seedlings outside from March onwards after hardening them off. Set plants into prepared ground or a container at least 30cm wide without burying the central growing point. Water immediately so the root ball and surrounding soil make close contact.

Use 10–15cm spacing for salad-leaf production and up to 40cm for full plants. Place autumn-raised seedlings in greenhouse soil or large containers for winter cropping. Maintain airflow and keep the growing area clear of weeds and fallen foliage.

These crops need little attention in cool damp weather. Their main requirement is steady moisture, especially while young and in containers. Water in dry spells, preferably during the morning so plants grow through the day and the soil surface does not remain damp overnight, when slugs and snails are active.

Mulch mature-leaf crops with a thick layer of garden compost applied to damp ground. This retains water and reduces weeds, but mulching is usually unnecessary around short-lived cut-and-come-again rows. Weed regularly so young rosettes do not lose light, moisture or airflow.

Heat and drought hasten flowering. Keep soil moist, provide temporary summer shade and harvest regularly to delay bolting. Remove flower stems as they appear. Buds and flowers are edible, but once flowering becomes persistent, harvest the remaining usable foliage and replace the plant.

Baby leaves can be picked after about a month once plants are growing strongly and reach 8–10cm tall. Take only a few outside leaves from each rosette so the centre continues producing. A plant may give as many as five small cut-and-come-again harvests before flowering.

For a whole rosette, wait six to eight weeks and cut with a sharp knife or scissors. Leaving a stump about 5cm above ground should allow the plant to resprout. Young leaves are mild and suited to salads; larger, more robust foliage is better steamed or stir-fried.

Use mizuna's lacy leaves and mibuna's smooth narrow foliage separately so their contrasting textures remain clear. Edible buds and flowers can be added raw to salads or cooked in the same way as mature leaves.

Mizuna and mibuna are vigorous and generally straightforward, but hot dry conditions cause bolting. Keep crops moist, use summer shade and sow small replacement batches. Fine insect-proof mesh protects seedlings from flea beetles and caterpillars, while secure netting prevents pigeon damage.

Slugs and snails can destroy seedlings in damp weather. Reduce hiding places, inspect after dark and use suitable barriers or biological controls. Rotate these crops with other brassicas to reduce the build-up of soil-borne problems.

Common problems