mustard 'Red Giant'
mustard or Brassica juncea 'Red Giant'
- Position: full sun
- Soil: humus-rich, moisture retentive soil
Peppery and packed with flavour, this easy-to-grow oriental salad leaf will lift your cooking to a whole new level. Use sparingly to add pizazz to lettuce leaf mixes, scatter on pizzas for some extra bite, or use in a spicy stir-fries. It's a good-looking plant, too, with large, red-tinged leaves intensifying to deep burgundy purple in cold weather. The flavour gets hotter and more mustardy as plants mature, so for a milder taste pick leaves young. - Growing Instructions: Sow sparingly in shallow drills in a sheltered spot in sun or light shade. Once seedlings appear, thin to 20cm apart if growing to full size: if harvesting as baby leaves plants can grow as close as 3cm. Keep well watered and if you protect late sowings with cloches they'll keep growing throughout the winter.
- Sow: April to September
- Harvest: June to October