Indian Mustard

**Sowing:** Indian mustard is grown as a cool-season crop, sown from early spring through late summer, since hot weather brings on bolting and a sharper, more pungent flavor. Seed germinates at soil temperatures from about 40 to 85°F, emerging in 4 to 7 days, and can be set 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep, later thinned to spacings from 6 inches for smaller types up to 18 inches for larger ones; sowing every 2 to 3 weeks extends the harvest window.

**Siting:** The crop does best in full sun to part shade, with some afternoon shade appreciated as weather warms, especially when growing baby greens. It wants well-drained, fertile soil rich in organic matter, with a neutral to slightly alkaline pH, and consistent moisture, since both moisture and temperature stress make the leaves spicier and unpleasantly strong; watering earlier in the day lets foliage dry before nightfall.

**Pests:** Flea beetles, caterpillars, aphids, whiteflies, slugs and snails attack Indian mustard, though the crop generally suffers less insect damage than other cole crops; floating row covers help exclude early-season infestations.

**Diseases:** Indian mustard is not as susceptible to the diseases that often plague other cole crops. Avoiding mustards or other cole crops in the same spot more than once every three or four years further reduces disease buildup.

**Leaves:** Young leaves can be picked for salads while older leaves are better cooked as greens; once plants bolt, their flowers and seedpods can also be harvested for salads. Picked leaves keep in the refrigerator for about 3 to 5 days.

**Seed:** For seed, pods are gathered once full but before they split open or shed, then air-dried until brown and brittle before threshing.

**Culinary:** The leaves, flowers, stems and seeds are all eaten, raw in salads when young or cooked as greens when older, while the seeds are pressed and ground for condiments and oil; mustard oil ranks as the third most important vegetable oil after soybean and oil palm.

**Ornamental:** With its yellow flower spikes that attract bees, Indian mustard is also grown in edible landscaping and container plantings.

**Agricultural:** It is used as a cover crop that adds biomass to garden beds, and it has shown promise for phytoremediation, taking up heavy metals readily from contaminated soils.

**Traditional:** In India, mustard seed has a documented history of traditional use for complaints including abdominal pain, anorexia, tumours and diabetes.

Indian mustard is native to Russia and central Asia, and was long cultivated across India as an annual or biennial crop grown for both its edible leaves and its oil-bearing seed. It was later introduced to North America from Eurasia, where it has since naturalized and is regarded as a noxious weed in parts of the Midwest.