Planting mustard is simple and productive at the same time. However, you must make sure that the other plants in the bed match the mustard. Learn more about planting and harvesting mustard in our guide.
Contents
Planting mustard: location and soil
Mustard is easy to plant and does not require much care. The yellow flowering plant looks good in the bed and does not have many requirements for soil and location:
- Light: bright, sunny
- Soil: calcareous, neutral pH, moist
- Sowing: possible all year round, if you want to harvest the seeds, then in May
- Harvest time: leaves all year round, seeds in October
- Did you know? A whole 25,000 seeds can develop in a single mustard plant.
Sowing mustard: instructions for the yellow plant.
You can sow mustard all year round. However, if you want to harvest the seeds, you should wait until May.
- Buy mustard seeds at a plant store or a well-stocked hardware store. For more information, see the article Organic Seeds: Good Reasons to Buy Organic Seeds and Where to Buy Them.
- Be careful not to sow mustard next to other cruciferous plants (e.g. cabbage, radish, cress, radish). Cruciferous plants extract a lot of nutrients from the soil and make life difficult for the weaker cruciferous plants in their vicinity. Suitable bed partners are, for example, strawberries or corn.
- Sow the seeds with a distance of about 20 centimeters. Make sure that you press them about two centimeters deep into the soil so that they are not pecked away by birds.
- Important: The last frost should be over before sowing.
Caring for the mustard plant
Once the mustard is successfully sown, you hardly need to take care of it. This is because the plant is very undemanding and requires little care.
Water sparingly. The soil should be kept only slightly moist. You can use tap water containing lime for watering, because mustard plants like lime.
You do not need to fertilize at all.
Harvesting mustard correctly: How do I get the seeds?
You can harvest the mustard leaves all year round shortly after sowing. Always pick only the outer leaves. You can use them as green manure for other plants by working them into the soil or in mixed salads and soups.
Mustard seeds are not ready for harvest until early fall. As soon as the foliage wilts, you can harvest them. Cut off the ripe pods and put them in an old potato or jute sack. Hit the bag and the pods against a wall several times so that the pods burst open. Now you can collect the seeds and let them dry on some newspaper or kitchen paper for about four weeks. Process the mustard seeds into mustard or store them in airtight jars.
Tip: Mustard seeds can be used to make more than just the well-known mustard. Use them, for example, as a condiment for mustard pickles, in cucumber salad or roulades.