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In recent years, some gardeners have taken to growing Japanese collard greens. There are many species and varieties of this culture, but, most importantly, they are all rich in vitamins and are a delicacy. You can get healthy greens throughout the year, using even an ordinary window sill for this.
Native to Japan, Mizuna cabbage is an unpretentious and productive leaf lettuce. Beautiful external signs allow you to grow a salad vegetable in flower beds next to flowers. The features of the plant, methods of cultivation and the intricacies of caring for Japanese cabbage will be discussed in the article.
A little history
Mizuna cabbage is native to Japan. The islanders are big fans of a balanced and proper diet. They have a lot of greens in their diet. One of the options for green vegetables is the Japanese Mizuna cabbage, which the Japanese have been growing since the XNUMXth century.
Salad vegetable is popular due to its chemical composition: with regular use, you can forget about some medications. Mizuna cabbage (pictured below) or, as it is also called, Mitsuna, is highly valued, not only in Japan, but also in North America, in Western Europe. In Our Country, they learned about a healthy vegetable relatively recently, but it already has fans among our compatriots.
Description
If we talk about Japanese cabbage in terms of botany, then Mizuna refers to green pepper salads, to the genus Cabbage in the Cruciferous family. This type of leafy vegetable is still less popular in Our Country, although the s have already managed to fall in love and appreciate Chinese and Beijing cabbage, its closest relatives.
Japanese Mizuna cabbage is used mainly for making vitamin salads. The Japanese themselves call the plant a help for the lazy, because it is unpretentious in care. Growing Japanese Mizuna cabbage even on the windowsill is not difficult, you just need to get acquainted with some of the nuances.
Appearance
Japanese cabbage has two varieties:
- Mizuna has whole, long, lanceolate leaves;
- Mizuna cabbage, which will be discussed in our article, has openwork leaves with a noticeable dissection. When considering a plant at close range, it seems as if someone specially cut the leaves with scissors. Just look at the photo, what a beauty!
Leaf plates of Japanese cabbage are located on long thin petioles, collected in a lush rosette. During growth, it forms a dense bundle. The leaves, depending on the variety of Mizuna cabbage, can be bright green or reddish-brown. The beauty and unusual shape of leaf blades is appreciated by landscape designers.
Japanese cabbage does not form a head of cabbage, despite the name. The main value of the plant is vitamin leaves that grow constantly, which allows them to be cut during the entire vegetative period.
Flowering does not give the plant a decorative effect due to too small light yellow buds. Japanese cabbage seeds are slightly smaller than poppy seeds.
By the end of the vegetative period, in addition to the mass of leaves, the cabbage will give a small edible root crop about 15 cm long. It is similar in taste and shape to a swede.
Characteristics
Japanese Mizuna cabbage is an early ripening plant, you can cut the leaves in a month and a half after sowing the seeds (depending on the variety).
Salad vegetable is frost-resistant, seeds can germinate at -2-3 degrees. And the cabbage itself can withstand slight frosts in the autumn without much damage. This characteristic allows you to cultivate in many regions and grow a plant in gardens from May to September.
A Japanese vegetable is a short-day plant, it is important for those who decide to grow it to know. Experienced gardeners advise planting cabbage in the afternoon to avoid the formation of arrows.
Application
Mizuna is prized for its mild and spicy taste. Many lovers compare it with the taste of mustard, radish or arugula. Japanese cabbage is advised to eat in early spring to avoid beriberi. The leaves are used both fresh, adding to all kinds of salads (with meat, vegetables, fish and fruits) and sandwiches (with cheese and cheese), and for making soups, stews, marinades.
Storage
Fresh leaves of Japanese cabbage Mizuna are not stored for long, as well as salads from them. If you’ve harvested Japanese cabbage and want to keep it longer, don’t remove the root. In addition, cabbage can be prepared for the winter to diversify the diet.
Varieties of Japanese cabbage
The State Register of the Federation recommends for cultivation two registered varieties of kale from Japan – Mermaid and Pizhon. Let’s consider them in more detail:
The Little Mermaid
Mermaid belongs to the mid-season variety, technical maturity occurs in 60-70 days from the moment of sowing seeds for seedlings. Cultivation of Mizuna cabbage of this variety due to heat resistance, frost resistance is possible in open and protected ground conditions.
The socket is slightly raised, up to 60 carved leaves are formed on it, the height of which is about 41 cm. The bunch is up to 70 cm in diameter. This fact must be taken into account when planting cabbage seedlings.
The weight of one socket is from 1000 to 1500 grams. From a square meter, as a rule, with proper care, up to 6,5 kg of vitamin salad is collected. The purpose of Mizuna cabbage of the Mermaid variety is universal.
Variety Mermaid stands out with green openwork leaves. They may be smooth or slightly wrinkled. The taste of leaves and white petiole is excellent.
Dude
Pijon Japanese cabbage is an ultra-early variety of salad destination, intended for fresh consumption. Technical maturity occurs in 30 days.
The variety has a horizontal rosette with strongly dissected leaves. The plant is less productive (up to 4 kg per square meter), the weight of the outlet is approximately 450 grams.
In addition to the varieties listed above, stores also offer seeds of the Mizuna Green and Mizuna Red varieties (the foliage has an anthracite tint).
Kale from Japan and China at their summer cottage:
Useful Properties
In Our Country, Japanese cabbage is considered a salad. The vegetable is sold in stores, many s willingly buy it because of the large amount of useful substances.
Mizuna varieties contain:
- ascorbic acid;
- carotene;
- vitamins B1, B2, PP;
- biologically active potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron;
- cellulose.
Given the content of useful micro- and macroelements, salad vegetables are rightfully considered medicinal. The Japanese have appreciated this quality since ancient times.
What are the benefits of Mizuna cabbage:
- It strengthens the immune system;
- reduces the risk of cancer (doctors recommend a vegetable to people with cancer);
- improves bowel activity and regulates water and body metabolism;
- normalizes cholesterol, removes salts and toxins;
- strengthens blood vessels, prevents the formation of plaques.
Doctors recommend eating Japanese lettuce in spring and autumn to avoid beriberi. Cabbage is useful for people with heart disease, with anemia.
Side effects as such were not found in the vegetable, because it has long been known in Japanese cuisine. The only caveat is individual intolerance.
Features of agricultural technology
Japanese cabbage Mizuna refers to unpretentious frost-resistant plants. The culture favors drained, light fertile soils with an alkaline pH of 6,5–7,2.
You can grow in a sunny place with little shade. The best predecessors are legumes, peppers, beets, tomatoes.
Useful Tips
Gardeners involved in culture note that agrotechnical standards correspond to Beijing cabbage. We think that our tips will be a great help for beginners:
- A leafy vegetable is planted early in the seedling method or by direct sowing of seeds in the ground. Gardeners choose the time in each region depending on climatic conditions, but this is usually April – May. For a continuous flow of greenery, sow seeds throughout the summer at two-week intervals.
- Close up small seeds of Mizuna cabbage only 0,5 cm at a distance of 5-10 cm, so that as they grow, you can pull plants for salads. The distance between plants to obtain a good harvest should be within 20-25 cm. Row spacing – at least 30 cm.
- Seeds germinate well at a temperature of 14-20 degrees. The first shoots appear after a week. If the seeds are sown in open ground, then you need to stretch the film from above. It is removed when the first shoots appear.
- While the vegetables are growing, you need to monitor the soil moisture, as overdrying can provoke bolting.
Care
It is not difficult for experienced gardeners to care for plantings of Mizuna lettuce, because agricultural technology is similar to growing Chinese cabbage. But for beginners who first took up a Japanese leafy vegetable, you need to carefully read the article and make notes for yourself:
- With the advent of the first shoots, you need to monitor the condition of the soil. It is not necessary to overdry it, but abundant watering is harmful. In order for the plants to have enough moisture for a long time, they are watered not only under the root, but also on the surface between the bushes. Then the plantings are mulched. Watering Mizuna cabbage over the leaves is not recommended, as they will begin to rot.
- The second point is weeding. Weeds can cause damage to the vegetable by pests.
- Since sowing and planting are made thickened, the plants need to be broken through so that at least 20-25 cm remains between the bushes.
- In order for the green mass of Japanese Mizuna cabbage to grow or recover faster after cutting, top dressing is carried out after 15 days. Wood ash is considered the best fertilizer and protection against pests. It is used both in dry form, for powdering, and in the form of an aqueous solution for root dressing. Nitrogen-containing fertilizers for fertilizing Mizuna cabbage are not used.
- Since the Japanese leafy vegetable is a short daylight plant, it needs to be covered in the afternoon.
- The leaves are cut off completely, leaving only short cuttings close to the root. The green mass is growing rapidly.
- If the variety is not a hybrid, then seeds can be collected.
Green bed on the window
If you are a fan of the Japanese Mizuna leaf vegetable, you can dig up the bushes before frost in the fall and transplant them into flower pots. At first they are kept on the veranda, and when it gets colder, they are transferred to the apartment. A small greenhouse with vitamins will appear on the window, but, in addition, this is a good decor element.
Japanese cabbage pests
As we have said, the Japanese leaf vegetable Mizuna belongs to the cruciferous family. Therefore, it can be damaged by such insects:
- aphid;
- cruciferous flea;
- slippery;
- bear.
Pest control chemicals are never used on Japanese Mizuna cabbage, because the vegetable accumulates all the toxins in the leaves. What should gardeners do? The answer is simple: all pests, except for the bear, do not tolerate wood ash and tobacco dust. No need to wait for the invasion of insects. Prevention is the best weapon.
Tobacco dust is sprayed on the leaves and surfaces around the plants or combined with water in a ratio of 1:10. Wood ash can also be used in dry form or diluted in water and sprayed with cabbage plantings.
In stores there are products consisting of natural ingredients, without chemical additives. If ash and tobacco did not help to cope with the problem, then store-bought products are used. From the bear you need to put special traps.
Conclusion
Vitamin-rich Japanese Mizuna cabbage is highly valued by green lovers. No wonder there are a large number of Japanese dishes in which this vegetable plays the leading violin. At the end of the article, we will give one of the most common recipes:
Cabbage more Japanese
According to the recipe we need:
- lettuce leaves;
- boiled eggs – 2 pieces;
- pear – 1 piece;
- nectarine – 1 piece;
- hard cheese (for example, Poshekhonsky) – a small piece;
- fresh lemon juice – 1 teaspoon;
- vinegar and olive oil – to taste.
Leaves are torn into small pieces, cheese, pear, nectarine and eggs are cut into cubes. Combine the ingredients in a salad bowl and add lemon juice, vinegar and oil. Vitamin salad is ready.
If you want to provide your family with a healthy vegetable, grow it in your garden. If you do not have a plot, find a place for the Japanese leaf vegetable Mizuna on a balcony or window. Grows great!