Salad Mustard: Types And Agricultural Technology

Mustache for salad

In this article, we will talk about the salad mustard, which is loved by many gardeners - Chinese salad mustard or cabbage mustard, for whom it is more convenient and habitual to call it. China is the homeland of such a popular additive to any salad.

Salad mustard is most widely distributed as an industrial culture in the countries of Southeast Asia, America, Western Europe, it is also in Russia, but the areas under it are still insignificant.

Salad mustard got its name for a slightly pungent taste of leaves, which partly resembles that of table mustard, which, however, is made from the seeds of plants quite close to salad mustard. The leaves of salad mustard are eaten, which contain an abundance of potassium and vitamins C and A. Due to the usefulness of the leaves, they have long been used both as a medicinal and as a prophylactic agent, helping to soothe pain, promoting wound healing, and relieving pain from burns.

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Mustard juice was especially revered in China, considering it to be an antidote. Mustard itself is an unpretentious plant, and also quite cold-resistant; it can be cultivated throughout the year. Usually, in open ground conditions, it is cultivated from early spring to late autumn, and in greenhouses or just on a windowsill - in winter.

The plant grows well on most types of soils, but always neutral and fairly moist, especially during the period of leaf formation. In general, Chinese mustard is an annual plant belonging to the cabbage family. In nature, there is a fairly significant number of various forms of this plant, which differ from each other in the basic structure of the leaves, but only a few deservedly received the greatest distribution:

• Sarepta mustard - has lyre-shaped leaves reaching lengths of 30-40 cm and three pairs of small, pronounced lobes in the lower part;
• broadleaf mustard - it has a high yield and is therefore the most widespread. The main leaves of this mustard are very large, oval, whole, green with strong wide petioles. The leaves are really large, this is not an exaggeration, they can reach a length of almost a meter! This variety has a shape that also forms a long, thickened edible stem.
• Japanese mustard - forms a dense rosette of a large number of narrow and whole leaves with thin petioles. This mustard differs not in the size of the leaves, they are rather small, but in their quantity and, therefore, in mass, which often exceeds 2 kg per plant.
• curly mustard - it is also decorative, thanks to its curly, and sometimes even curly leaves. In the United States, this mustard is widely distributed as an ornamental one, and its variety, Giant Southern Curly, is especially popular.

In addition to the well-known leafy varieties of mustard, there are also quite widespread root forms, they form a large and rounded root vegetable, reaching a diameter of 20 cm and giving a rosette of leaves up to 30 cm long. Root vegetables are usually used for making pickles and gourmet soups. The unifying positive property of all varieties of salad mustard is their early maturity, because only 30 days pass from sowing the seed into the soil to harvesting the formed crop. When sown in spring, they very quickly form a flowering stem, often exceeding one and a half meters in height.

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And now, briefly about agricultural technology. It all starts with the preparation of the soil, it consists in sufficient loosening and filling with fertilizers. Seeds are sown in early spring or at several times, after about 1-2 weeks, in order to extend the season for the consumption of fresh products. The best sowing method is considered to be a row sowing, at a distance of about 25-30 cm between rows and to a depth of 1-1.5 cm. As soon as the first leaves appear, the seedlings must be thinned out, leaving a distance of at least 10-15 cm between the plants. After that, sowing can feed with nitrogen fertilizers at a dose of about 10 g per square meter.

You can cultivate salad mustard in greenhouses or just on a windowsill. In this case, the seeds are sown in winter in low boxes filled with light soil. After that, the soil is moistened with warm water and covered with paper or a film, which is removed immediately after the first shoots appear. Sometimes already emerged plants are threatened by a cruciferous flea. Therefore, to reduce its harmfulness, it is necessary to monitor the soil moisture, it should not dry out, if necessary, it is necessary to dust the rows of plants with ash. They begin harvesting as needed, but more often they do this when the plants reach a height of 10-15 cm.

The leaves and stems of salad mustard are eaten, the leaves are usually eaten in salted or fried form, in addition they are dried, ground into powder, which is later used as a seasoning for fish or meat dishes. Mustard stems are used in the initial period of development, when they are juicy and soft, cut from them, dried in the sun, and then placed in containers, sprinkled with salt. After about a couple of days, the stems will give abundant juice, after which they add spices and stir, the resulting mixture is a wonderful spicy snack!