Seeds of desire

GROWING MUSTARD

Carole Saville

Mustards grow well in cool weather; plant seeds in early spring for a summer crop. Gardeners who live where winters are mild can sow mustard seeds again in the fall for a harvest the following spring. White (or yellow) mustard (Sinapis alba), black mustard (Brassica nigra), and brown mustard (B. juncea) grow well in most soils, but they perform best in well-drained, rich, moist soil and full sun. Sow seeds about 1/4 inch deep, then thin seedlings to 1 foot apart. When growing mustard for seed, feed once a month with a balanced fertilizer. Mustard seeds mature in three to six months, but plants will quickly bolt in areas where the weather becomes hot and dry. Mustard is virtually pest-free, but watch for slugs and flea beetles when the plants are young.

Harvest mustard pods just as they begin to change from green to tan, before they fall off and self-seed. (If your herb ­garden ­becomes a sea of yellow mustard, you’ll understand why Hindus considered mustard a fertility symbol.)

Dry the pods in a warm, dry place, then gently crush them to release the seeds. Pick out the coarse debris, then sift the rest through a kitchen colander with holes just large enough for the mustard seeds to pass through. Shake the seeds in a fine strainer to remove dust and dirt. Bottled seeds can be stored indefinitely.

Food and garden writer Carole Saville is the ­author of Exotic Herbs (Henry Holt, 1997).