Your 1st Garden

                                       WHAT ARE MUSTARD GREENS?

Until two years ago, I had never tried mustard greens. You know one of those vegetables you see in the produce section that look or sound weird and you just never get around to investigating them? Well that was me. Until one day when the produce guy was raving about Mustard Greens. Most of the time people don’t try new things, especially food because they just don’t know what the food is and how to prepare it. Same with collard greens, chard and  kale which I have finally crossed the line and concord all with great surprise and pleasure. Mustard Greens are mostly known in the South. These greens are as implied, peppery and down right sometimes hot to the taste. Guess that’s why the seeds from mustard greens are used to make Dijon Mustard. I’m feeling very informed now.

LOADED WITH NUTRITION

 What I didn’t know until recently is how NUTRITIOUS mustard greens are. They are loaded. How about 554%! daily value in Vitamin K (Vit K is very important for your liver to form proper blood clotting function) OR almost 85% daily value of Vitamin A and 59% for Vitamin C. The list is long and amazing including tons more Vitamins plus a lot of minerals. So I thought this green vegetable is VERY worth planting and munching as often as possible which you can do raw although it is pretty hot  if not steamed or sautéed`a little.

Mustard greens can vary in looks. Sometimes the leaves are thicker, darker and more blunt. I planted what is called; Southern Giant Curled greens with bright green, curly, leaves as shown in the photo above. Living in No. California it seemed to me the mustard greens appeared over night and grew like crazy. They have always been robust with no bugs at all. But generally it takes around 50 days for the seeds to sprout.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH MUSTARD GREENS

What I do is throw them  into a wok with some virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, and some pumpkin seeds (also very good for you ) cook for about 5 Min’s. then throw in a heap of the greens add a little organic vegetable broth and toss until you have an enormously tasty and nutritious accompaniment to any meal. Also mustard greens can be added raw to any sandwich instead of lettuce.

WHEN AND HOW TO PLANT

Actually you get a lot of bang for your buck here. You can plant around  3 - 4 weeks before frost ends  and pretty much any time after the last frost. The greens grow profusely. Then you can plant again during the summer for fall. You will find the taste in the summer to be a little more spicy than in the cooler weather in the fall. You are supposed to plant the seeds around 1/2 inch deep and 3 to 5 inches apart. I didn’t pay much attention to this and the greens grew abundantly anyway.

Going out to my little garden with the scissors and just cutting any amount I please to me is a grand luxury; therefore the greens are always trimmed because I am eating them so much and I don’t have to worry about pruning or the formation of old or yellow leaves. Again, what a luxury! They are perpetually there for you. It is wise, of course, to  fertilize your 1st  garden, with only organic fertilizer.

Be bold Try something new!

All smiles!

Claudia