Growing Mustard Greens: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 18, 2026
Mustard greens are one of the fastest crops you can grow for a full harvest, direct-sown and ready to cut in under six weeks, with a peppery bite that gets sharper the longer a leaf sits on the plant. They’re also one of the most cold-tolerant greens, holding up to frost that would finish off lettuce.
Sowing it into cold soil it doesn’t mind
Direct-sow mustard greens roughly three weeks before your last frost. They don’t mind the cold and germinate fine in cool soil. At 40 days to maturity and 4 plants per square foot, this is a dense, quick-turnover crop: expect to be harvesting outer leaves within a month and cycling the bed to something else well before summer heat sets in.
Bolting is a timing problem, not a growing one
Like most quick brassica greens, mustard bolts and turns bitter once heat arrives, so timing matters more than troubleshooting once it’s planted. Harvest outer leaves continuously rather than waiting for the whole plant to size up. This keeps the plant producing and the flavor from getting too intense on any single leaf.
A fast-turnover filler for a salad bed
Mustard greens share light and water needs with lettuce, making them a natural fit for a shared salad bed, and they pair well with carrots for mutual pest benefit. See the full companion guide for mustard-greens. At 4 per square foot, they’re an efficient, fast-turnover filler in the Garden Designer, useful for using up bed space before or after a slower main crop.
Companion planting guide for Mustard Greens · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-2 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant mustard greens, by zone
Every zone mustard greens grow in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Not usually | Apr 29–May 6 | Jun 8–Jun 15 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | May 9–May 16 | Jun 18–Jun 25 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | Apr 24–May 1 | Jun 3–Jun 10 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | Apr 19–Apr 26 | May 29–Jun 5 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Apr 4–Apr 11 | May 14–May 21 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Mar 20–Mar 27 | Apr 29–May 6 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Mar 4–Mar 11 | Apr 13–Apr 20 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Jan 25–Feb 1 | Mar 6–Mar 13 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Jan 9–Jan 16 | Feb 18–Feb 25 |
| 11a & 11bFall window | Not usually | Sep–Jan | ~40 days after direct-sowing |
Harvest dates are about 40 days after the sow or plant-out date.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Mustard Greens plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-2 ft.
Good companions for mustard greens
- Lettuce: Similar light/water needs for a shared salad bed.
- Carrot: Non-competing pairing with mutual pest benefit.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from mustard greens →
Varieties worth considering
- Southern Giant Curled: Listed by University of Florida IFAS Gardening Solutions as one of the mustard cultivars recommended for Florida gardens, alongside Florida Broad Leaf, Tendergreen, Giant Red, Green Wave, and Mizuna. (source) Buy seeds: True Leaf Market · Burpee
- Ruby Streaks: Fine, deeply lobed dark green and maroon leaves, ready in 21 days as baby leaf or 40 for full size, per Johnny's. Milder than Southern Giant Curled, worth growing if you want a mustard green for a salad mix rather than a cooked side dish. (source) Buy seeds: High Mowing Organic Seeds
- Red Giant: A broadleaf type with purple-tinted, gently scalloped leaves, very slow to bolt per Johnny's, which matters more than flavor once summer heat arrives and the fast-bolting types are already finished. (source) Buy seeds: Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee · High Mowing Organic Seeds
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy mustard greens seeds
High Mowing Organic Seeds (each supplier's mustard greens seeds)
The varieties we recommend above each have their own buy links, for the suppliers that sell that exact variety.
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 clear consensus of positive, independent reviews, or ones we bought and use ourselves. Each item on our gear page says which.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing mustard greens" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
Pin this for later
Growing Mustard Greens: A pungent, fast, cold-hardy salad green ready to cut in under six weeks, with variety picks for baby leaf versus a cooked side dish.
Save to Pinterest