Asian brassicas

The term Asian salad encompasses various vegetables that usually come from the Far East. Most are members of the family of cruciferous plants. Accordingly, their taste ranges from very hot to a brassica-mild. They taste great as a spicy side salad or fried briefly in a wok. Asian salads are easy to grow, both in raised beds or balcony boxes. Asian salads are consumed raw, as side salads, for seasoning, or boiled or fried.

Asian salads have a short time to harvest, 6-8 weeks, and grow best in the cooler seasons. When the days are long or the plants are under stress (e.g. irregular water supply) they can start to flower quickly. For harvesting, individual leaves can be picked or the Asian salad can be cut off approx. 5 cm above the ground, as with leaf lettuce, so that the growing stems are not damaged and the plant can grow back. Especially when harvesting leaf lettuce, the plant beds should be kept free of weeds.