Growing Mizuna: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 25, 2026
Mizuna is a feathery-leaved Japanese mustard green prized for its mild, slightly peppery flavor and quick turnaround, one of the fastest crops you can put in a salad-garden bed.
Sowing on repeat
Direct-sow seed 1/4 inch deep from early spring through midsummer. Harvest as baby leaf in as little as 18 days, or let it size up for a full head at around 40 days. It’s cold-tolerant, so it also works well as a late-summer sowing for a fall harvest, and can overwinter under a low tunnel in milder climates.
Beating the bolt
Like most fast-growing brassica greens, mizuna bolts quickly once summer heat arrives. Treat it as a spring and fall crop rather than a summer one. Flea beetles are its main pest; row cover from the moment seedlings emerge is the most reliable fix.
A salad-bed partner
Mizuna is a natural cut-and-come-again partner for arugula and lettuce in a salad bed. All three share light, fast-turnaround growing needs, and mizuna’s frilly texture adds visual contrast to a mixed-greens harvest.
Sources: Mizuna (Organic), Johnny’s Selected Seeds; Red Streaks Mizuna, True Leaf Market.
Companion planting guide for Mizuna · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. Mizuna doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Mizuna plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 9 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 0.5-1 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- 'Red Streaks' (Brassica rapa var. nipposinica): True Leaf Market's Kitazawa-line 'Red Streaks' holds up to heat and bolts later than lettuce, useful if you want mizuna past its usual spring window. It runs a little slower than a plain green strain (45 days versus 40) and the burgundy streaking is a good way to spot it in a mixed salad tray, not just a color trick. (source)
- 'Early' (Kyona) mizuna: True Leaf Market's Kyona strain matures faster than Red Streaks, in 45 days against 45-plus for the colored type, with plain dark green, long slender stems. It's the plainer, quicker choice if you want a fast cut-and-come-again green rather than the visual contrast Red Streaks adds to a mixed tray. (source)
- 'Waido': BBC Gardeners' World describes 'Waido' as bearing broader leaves than most mizuna, with a stronger flavor than the milder standard types. Worth choosing if you want mizuna's peppery bite to come through clearly in a salad rather than get lost among other greens. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy mizuna seeds
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing mizuna" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
Pin this for later
Growing Mizuna: A fast, cold-tolerant Japanese salad green that's ready to cut in as little as three weeks.
Save to Pinterest