Mustard Wasabina Improved BabyLeaf 640 Veg Seeds

With its distinctive leaf texture and mildly spicy, wasabi-like radish flavor, Wasabina is an eye-catching and flavorful addition to any salad. Also great as a garnish, as a companion ingredient in vegetable dishes, or served alongside meats or deep sea scallops. There are a multitude of innovative ways to use this versatile new green.

• Try in salads and sushi!
• Name tells it: this quickly growing salad has a typical wasabina, strong taste.
• Germinates in few days only. Add the first Height Block when the first leaves appear.
• You can start harvesting some leaves in 2-3 weeks.
• You can harvest the biggest leaves first or cut all at once.

Brassica juncea "Wasabina"

Mustards are one of the oldest spices in history. In the old Mediterranean cultures a legend told that mustard was introduced to us mortals by Asclepius and Ceres. When talking about mustard, we usually mean the seeds. But the greens of the mustard plant are also edible and enjoyed in many cuisines. They are nutritious, too, containing vitamins A, B and C. Our light green leaf mustard with serrated, tender leaves has a peppery, subtly wasabi-like flavor. The young leaves can be enjoyed raw and give a nice, spicy flavor to milder salad leaves. The more mature greens taste best when boiled or in stir-fries.

Babyleaf

Babyleaf is a convenient way of describing the optimum growth stage of many different leafy vegetables when cut to provide an individual leaf for salads. This is normally within the range 8-14cm in size. The popularity of bagged salads in recent years has risen sharply due the excellent quality of the components, and over 90% of households in the UK regularly buy their salads in this form.

Viridis Hortus screen many varieties for their suitability for the babyleaf market, examining leaf size and shape, speed of growth, size of cut area (normally stem thickness) ease of harvest, flavour, colour and general appearance, and of course shelf life after harvest.

Do ask us if you want more information about any of our babyleaf products and their suitability for your needs.

Sowing:

In autumn and winter seed can be sown into pots or seed trays which can be grown on the kitchen windowsill or in a heated conservatory/greenhouse. Sow 20-30 seeds into a 10-12cm pot using a free draining compost and cover seed lightly after sowing.
For spring and summer crops, sow direct into prepared seed beds in the kitchen garden or greenhouse border, and this is the best growing technique for spring and summer crops.

Sow outdoors sprinkle seeds 1/2 inch apart in a 2 to 4 inch wide row covering lightly or broadcast sow. Tip a small amount of seed into your hand, take a pinch and spread thinly along the trench. Cover with soil, label and water.

If birds are a problem in your garden, spread netting to prevent them eating the seed. Sow every two weeks for a continual supply of tender young leaf.

Cultivation:
The best tasting leaves come from plants which are grown quickly; this means a temperature of 15-19°C (60-70°F).
Under optimum growing conditions a crop of salad leaves can be ready for picking 3-4 weeks from sowing. Slower growing crops can become more fibrous and hotter flavoured.

Once cut the plants should have sufficient energy for re-growth to provide a second or even third crop of leaves, giving a regular supply with "little and often" sowings.