Why Grow Southern Culred Mustard?
A Southern Classic Southern Curled Mustard is a time-tested heirloom variety that has been a favorite in Southern gardens for generations. Recognized as an All-America Selections (AAS) Gold Medal winner in 1935, this productive mustard produces beautifully curled leaves with excellent flavor and outstanding cold-weather performance. Its slow-bolting nature allows it to handle winter temperature fluctuations well, extending the harvest season for home gardeners.
Versatile Greens for Fresh Salads or Traditional Cooking Southern Curled Mustard offers two harvests in one crop. Young, tender leaves add a bold, peppery flavor to fresh salad mixes, while mature leaves become the classic Southern cooking greens that mellow into a rich, delicious flavor when sautéed or simmered. Easy to grow, productive, and dependable, Southern Curled Mustard is an excellent choice for gardeners looking to enjoy a true Southern heirloom throughout the cool growing season.
Mustard Green Growing Tips
• When to Plant Mustard Greens
Mustard greens are considered a "cool season" vegetable that grow best in the fall and early spring months. This variety can be direct seeded or transplanted in the backyard garden. If transplanting, start seeds indoors or in a greenhouse 3-4 weeks before your intended in-ground planting date. Then space transplants 2-3" apart in your garden rows or beds.
If direct seeding into your in-ground garden or containers, make a shallow (1" deep) planting furrow and lightly sprinkle seeds along the furrow. Then lightly cover the seeds and press to ensure good seed to soil contact. For small containers, you may wish to sprinkle mustard seeds over the entire container and lightly cover with more soil.
Mustard greens can tolerate a light frost but will tend to become damaged during a heavy freeze. As a result, we recommend harvesting the leaves before a heavy freeze. The plants will often recover and grow back, but this will prevent the leaves you have from becoming damaged.
Mustard will "bolt" or go to seed when temperatures begin to warm in the spring months. Planting in the late summer for a fall crop or in the late winter for a spring crop will provide the best results.
• How to Fertilize Mustard Greens
It's always a good idea to apply some pre-plant fertilizer to the soil prior to planting mustard seeds or transplants. We like to sprinkle Coop Gro organic fertilizer on our raised beds or along our rows prior to planting. This ensures the plants have the right nutrients to put down roots in their new soil.
After each harvest, fertilize the plants with a balanced fertilizer to ensure quality repeat harvests going forward. We like to feed ours with a liquid solution of AgroThrive General Purpose or by sprinkling Coop Gro around the base of the plants and lightly mixing it into the soil.
• When to Harvest Mustard Greens
Mustard greens can be harvested whenever you'd like! Some gardeners like to harvest "baby mustard greens" as soon as the leaves are as big as their hands, while others prefer to wait until the leaves get larger.
When harvesting mustard greens, you can pluck individual leaves off the plant or cut the plants a few inches above the soil line. Be sure to leave a few inches of the base of the stems in tact so the plants can continue to grow and produce another round of leaves.
