Mustard Green Gai Choi
$4.95
Brassica Juncea
- Seed Count 400
- Good For Baby Leaves
- Annual
In stock
Description
Mustard Green Gai Choi is reliable, versatile and deeply rooted in food traditions across Asia, yet still feels like a bit of a discovery for many home cooks. As a leafy green, it offers substance as well as flavour, with a character that sits somewhere between mild cabbage and peppery mustard.
This variety is a fast growing, semi heading leafy green with broad, generous leaves and thick white stems. The leaves form a loose head rather than a tight cabbage, making it easy to harvest whole or use leaf by leaf. The stems are crisp and juicy, providing a pleasing contrast to the softer leaf blades.
The flavour of Gai Choi is best described as a medium mustard taste. It has warmth and depth but is not overpowering. There is a gentle pepperiness that works beautifully in savoury dishes. It can be eaten raw when young, adding interest to salads, or cooked, where the flavour mellows and becomes rounder and more cabbage like.
Gai Choi is also commonly known as Chinese Mustard, Mustard Cabbage and Indian mustard. These names hint at its wide cultural reach and long history. It is a vegetable that crosses borders easily, appearing in Chinese stir fries, pickles and soups, as well as Indian and Southeast Asian dishes. Each culture has found its own way to use it, whether lightly cooked to retain crunch or fermented to deepen its flavour over time.
As a cool season leafy green, Mustard Green Gai Choi is particularly well suited to home vegetable gardens that enjoy mild winters. It is cold hardy and dependable when many summer crops have finished, making it a valuable part of the seasonal kitchen.
| Method: Sow direct | Soil Temp: 10°C - 35°C |
| Cool Mountain: Jan - Dec | Position: Full sun/Part Shade |
| Arid: Aug - Apr | Row Spacing: 50 cm |
| Temperate: Jan - Dec | Planting Depth: 3 mm |
| Sub Tropical: Jan - Dec | Harvest: 50 Days |
| Tropical: Jan - Nov | Plant Height: 30 cm |
Absolutely! Here’s your comprehensive mustard greens grow guide with emoji headers to add visual interest and make it easy to scan — perfect for a blog, newsletter, or printout.
🧺 Sowing in Trays vs. Direct: Which is Best?
Short answer: You can do both!
Sow in trays if you’re dealing with slugs, snails or erratic weather. Direct sow if you want quick, fuss-free greens.
🌱 Sowing in Trays
- Sow 2–3 seeds per cell, cover lightly
- Thin to strongest seedling
- Transplant at 4–5 true leaves
- Final spacing:
- Baby leaf: 10–15 cm apart
- Full size: 25–35 cm apart
🌾 Direct Sowing
- Create shallow drills (~5 mm)
- Sow thinly, cover, water gently
- Thin once up and growing
- Eat thinning’s as microgreens!
🔬 Do Mustard Seeds Need Pre-Treatment?
No pre-treatment needed!
Optionally soak for 2–4 hrs in room temp water to speed things up in cooler weather, but they’re reliable germinators on their own.
🌞 Soil & Position
- Sun: Full sun is best; partial shade ok in warm zones
- Soil: Well-drained, rich, full of compost
- pH: 6.0–7.5
- Prep soil with compost and organic fertiliser (like pelletised chook poo)
Tip: Mulch after planting to keep moisture even and weeds down.
🌿 Care & Maintenance
- 💧 Water: Keep soil consistently moist
- 🍽️ Feed: Light top-dress with fish emulsion or seaweed every 2–3 weeks
- 🚫 Weeds: Remove early before they crowd out young seedlings
- 🌾 Mulch: Straw or lucerne works a treat
- 😎 Heat stress: Shade cloth helps if growing into spring
🤝 Companion Planting Guide
✅ Good Companions:
- Legumes (peas, broad beans)
- Aromatic herbs (dill, coriander, mint)
- Alliums (spring onions, garlic)
- Nasturtiums & Calendula (attract beneficials)
❌ Avoid:
- Other brassicas (for disease rotation)
- Nightshades & strawberries (not ideal neighbours)
✂️ Harvesting
- Baby leaves: Cut at 10–12 cm tall
- Full leaves: Harvest outer leaves as needed
- Whole plants: Uproot once mature
- Bonus: Flowering stems are edible too—tender and spicy!
🌡️ Cool weather = milder flavour
🔥 Heat stress = spicier leaves
🐛 Common Issues & Organic Fixes
| 🚨 Problem | 🔍 Symptom | 🌱 Cause | 🧰 Organic Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aphids | Clusters, curling | Warm spells, lush growth | Spray with water, insecticidal soap, attract ladybirds |
| Cabbage moths | Holes, green frass | Caterpillars | Netting, hand-pick, BT spray |
| Flea beetles | Tiny holes | Warm, dry soil | Row covers, keep moist, sprinkle diatomaceous earth |
| Slugs & snails | Chewed seedlings | Damp mulch | Beer traps, iron pellets, remove manually |
| Downy mildew | Yellow spots, fuzzy leaves | Humid air, poor airflow | Water soil not leaves, increase spacing |
| Clubroot | Wilting, gnarled roots | Soil-borne fungus | Rotate crops, lime soil, improve drainage |
🌼 Detailed Seed Saving Guide
Mustard greens are easy to save seed from, but will cross with other brassicas (especially B. juncea types).
🧬 Select Your Plants
- Pick 20–50 strong plants
- Choose for leaf shape, flavour, vigour
🚧 Isolation
- Backyard saving: 20–50 m from other brassicas
- For purity: 200–500 m or use insect-proof cages
🌸 Let It Flower
- Plants bolt naturally in spring
- Leave to flower and pod up
- Optional: bag flower heads with mesh to prevent crossing
🌾 Harvesting Seed
- Wait for pods to turn tan and rattle
- Harvest whole stems, dry upside down
- Thresh by rubbing pods or gently stomping in a bag
- Winnow to clean (light breeze or fan)
🏺 Storing Seed
- Fully dry seeds snap when bent
- Store in airtight jars, add a desiccant
- Viability: 4–5 years
🌟 Final Thoughts
Mustard greens are one of the easiest, quickest greens you can grow—perfect for both beginners and seed-savers. Sow thickly for baby leaf salads, or space them out and let them shine into full, savoyed glory. With just a bit of water and a watchful eye for caterpillars, you’ll have weeks of fresh harvest from each plant.
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Postage Charge
Orders under $35 attract a $4.95 shipping charge. Orders $35 and above have free shipping.
Order Times
Seed orders are normally dispatched within three business days. You will receive an email when seeds are mailed out.
Postage Days
Seeds are mailed out Tuesday to Friday at 1pm. Except for the Friday of long weekends.
Postage Times
WA 2-3 Days: SA,NT 3-5 Days: NSW, ACT, QLD, VIC: 5-7 Days
Carrier
We use Australia Post Letter Postage for the majority of orders
Not only are our seeds packed in recycled paper envelopes, we keep the theme going when we post out website orders. To protect your seeds from moisture and the letter box munchers (snails), we use a very special plastic free material made from plants. They are then put into recycled mailing envelopes. Green all the way 💚🌿
Delivery Guarantee
We take great care to make sure your seeds arrive safely. If your order is lost or damaged in transit, we’ll happily send a replacement. Unfortunately, we can’t replace or refund orders that arrive later than the estimated delivery date, as delays can sometimes occur that are outside our control.
Please note that all dispatch and delivery times listed are estimates only. While we do our best to post promptly, delivery timeframes can vary due to postal service delays, weather events, or other unforeseen circumstances. We’re unable to take responsibility for any loss, damage, or cost that results from a late delivery.
An order is not considered missing until at least 20 business days have passed from the postage date. You’ll receive an email once your seeds have been posted, letting you know they’re on their way. If you don’t see it in your main inbox, please check your Spam or Promotions folders as sometimes our emails like to hide there.
See all our verified customer reviews on our official CusRev profile.
See all our verified customer reviews on our official CusRev profile.