Brassica rapa var. japonica
Asian salad
Common names: Asian greens
At a glance
- Light
- Partial shade
- Spacing
- 15 cm, rows 25 cm
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Sowing
- Mar, Apr, Aug, Sep
- Harvest
- May, Jun, Oct, Nov
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below −8 °C
- Water need
- Medium
- For children
- Well suited
Photo: Aris riyanto · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Asian salads are a colorful group of fast-growing leafy greens with spicy-sour, often finely serrated or rosette-shaped leaves. When young, they can be eaten raw as baby leaves in salads, or when older, briefly stir-fried in a wok to bring heat and color to the garden, and this is from early spring to late autumn.
Care instructions
Sow them directly and densely into the bed, preferably in late summer (August, week 33), because they bolt quickly under prolonged heat. Keep the soil moist for mild, tender leaves and harvest as a cut salad continuously with scissors; the plants regrow multiple times. In autumn, a net protects against earthworms and extends the harvest until frost.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Apr, Aug–Sep
HarvestMay–Jun, Oct–Nov
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 5 °C, ideally 20 °C
- Days to sprout
- 3 to 7 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, loamy, well-drained, nutrient-rich, moist
Give Asian salad greens a loose, humus-rich loam or sandy soil that stays evenly moist and is well drained. Loosen heavy soils beforehand with mature compost; in partial shade the plants bolt more slowly, which lengthens your harvest period.
Brassicas are heavy feeders and prone to clubroot; keep a 4-year break from growing them, and do not follow directly after other crucifers such as radishes or mustard.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Sep
Before sowing or planting, work mature compost in shallowly; that is usually enough as basic feeding. For the spring sowing (March to April) and the main sowing (July to September) you can work in some horn shavings shallowly to support leaf growth. Feed sparingly, because too much nitrogen makes the leaves soft and prone to pests.
Overwintering
Asian salad greens are effectively annual and do not survive a Central European lowland winter outdoors. Sow them anew every season from August. For a harvest into winter, grow them under a film tunnel, in a cold frame or in a cold greenhouse and cover them additionally with winter fleece in severe frost; harvest only thawed, not frozen leaves.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
Asian salad greens are propagated exclusively by sowing. You can start them from February/March under glass or in a cold frame and plant the young plants out after the last frosts; harden off plants raised indoors first. Direct sowing outdoors works from about March to September: set the seeds about 0.5 to 1 cm deep in loose, moist soil. Germination is most even at about 15 °C; at warmer temperatures it germinates as well, but then tends to bolt sooner. A late-summer sowing (July to August) is especially recommendable, when the greatest heat has passed: the plants then develop evenly and you can still harvest into autumn, with cold-resistant varieties even into winter. If you do not cut too low and leave the heart in the centre of the rosette, Asian salad greens regrow several times (up to around five cuts); so you do not have to sow anew every time.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
legume family (Fabaceae)
particularly well establishedLeguminous plants collect nitrogen in the soil, from which Brassicaceae benefit as heavy feeders.
For example Bush beanPole beanBroad beanSnow peaWrinkled peaRunner bean and 35 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
carrot family (Apiaceae)
You can pair celery and dill with all Brassicaceae because they repel the cabbage whitefly with their scent, a proven companion.
For example CarrotCeleriacDillParsleyFlorence fennelCoriander and 21 more species in the catalogue
Source: Bio-Gärtnerei Mixed-culture Practice
mint family (Lamiaceae)
You will notice that the intense scent of basil, thyme, and others confuses the cabbage whitefly and keeps it away from the cabbage family.
For example LavenderThymeBasilRosemarySageHyssop and 43 more species in the catalogue
Source: bio-gardening intercropping practice
nasturtium family (Tropaeolaceae)
Nasturtium serves as a trap plant for you. Aphids and cabbage whiteflies prefer it over the brassicaceae next to it.
For example NasturtiumMashua
Source: Trap plant practice in organic horticulture
Rather not
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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