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Mizuna Landrace
Brasica rapa
This is a sweet and spicy, wide-leafed, and winter-hardy mizuna landrace. Tobacco Road Farm initially crossed their mizuna with flowering maruba and tatsoi pollinator plants in order to increase the genetic diversity and vigor of the mizuna population. They then saved seeds from the mizuna mother plants and have been selecting for winter hardiness in this now-stable crop for the past 20 years. It plays a starring role (alongside Ice Bred Arugula) in their ever popular spicy salad mix. With these varieties, you can have delicious greens in fall, winter, and spring with little effort. In cooler climates, we plant in November and cover with hoops and plastic row covers until the warmth of spring. Roughwood Seed Collection offered this variety a couple years back under the name "Mizunarubasoi."
Photos of the young mizuna landrace courtesy of Rise & Root Farm where farmer Jane Hodge says "it's my favorite green of all time".
Days to maturity: 21-40 (see below)
Seeds per pack: 200
Germination rate: 86% on 10/12/2023
Planting / harvesting notes
Seed every 1" in rows 8-12" apart, 1/4-1/2" deep. Keep watered until germination. Thin to every 6-12" for full heads, or treat as cut-and-come-again baby greens. Harvest baby greens after 21 days, or allow plant to mature in 40 days.
Seed keeping notes
Isolate by 1/2 mile from other flowering members of B. rapa, including turnips, napa cabbage, and bok choy to avoid unwanted cross-pollination. Allow seed pods to turn brown and dry before seed harvest. Protect from birds.
