Asian Greens for Fall and Winter Gardens: Beyond Bok Choy
Asian greens are nutrient-dense, easy to grow, and boast rich flavor profiles. Moving easily from garden to table, the quick-growing crops produce high yields during the cool season. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores Asian greens with broad appeal to grow in the fall for ready harvests.
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Asian greens add nutrition and flavor to the fall and winter table. The cool-season greens are popular worldwide for their versatility in cuisine and umami flavor, where sweet meets savory. Fresh, wilted, sauteed, stir-fried, and pickled, they’re easy to incorporate into seasonal dishes and fast become fall and winter favorites.
Frost-tolerant, the leafy vegetables are easy to grow and harvest. They develop quickly for picking before the first heavy freeze. In mild climates, growth extends into winter. Check the days to maturity for your selection to make sure there’s ample time to enjoy the harvest before fall’s first frost. Add several days to the expected maturity timeframe to account for seasonal variables. Opt for swift harvests as baby greens in cold climates (and for a tender, mild texture and flavor).
Grow savory Asian greens in fall’s edible landscape, in pots, raised beds, or in the ground. Sow them on the kitchen counter year-round for nutritious micro and baby greens. Adding Asian vegetables to the seasonal harvest enriches autumnal dishes with rich flavor and loads of nutrition.
Mizuna Mustard
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botanical name Brassica rapa subsp. nipposinica |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 12” |
Mizuna is a Japanese mustard that’s not only flavorful, but it’s also highly ornamental. Heavily dissected leaves lend a fine texture among cool-season annuals in containers or along the bed edge. Each plant holds as many as 200 upright stems. Pair them with edible flowers like pansies, violas, calendula, and marigolds for a multifaceted seasonal display.
These fall Asian greens are harvestable at any growth stage, but are best as baby leaves with a mildly spicy flavor. Young leaves are ready to pick only a few weeks after sowing. Mizuna tolerates transitional seasonal fluctuations like heat and frost without being quick to bolt (bloom prematurely).
Napa Cabbage
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botanical name Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 9-11” |
Napa cabbage isn’t as pungent as standard cabbage varieties, with a delicately sweet, mild flavor. The leaves are soft and crinkly, falling somewhere between a lettuce and western cabbage. Light green with white stems, the heads have a creamy interior.
As fully developed heads, the cabbages weigh about two pounds. Their mild flavor and tender leaves make them versatile in salads, slaws, and wraps, and in kimchi, stir-fries, braised, or roasted.
The crop is ready in 50-55 days. They grow best in temperatures between 60 and 65°F (16 to 18°C), with germination at 75 to 85°F (24 to 29°C). Direct sow the Asian greens in fall, eight to ten weeks before the first frost.
Sow a group of three seeds every 12 to 18 inches. Thin to a single seedling per trio when they reach three inches tall. For a rich purple selection to brighten the plate, look to ‘Merlot.’
Kailaan Chinese Broccoli
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botanical name Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 24-30” |
Kailaan, or gai lan, is a Chinese broccoli with small blue-green florets and flavorful leaves and stems. The taste is sweet and somewhat bitter, with a complexity that distinguishes it from other broccoli varieties. It’s also heat and frost-tolerant for an extended season of tender shoots without bolting.
Chinese broccoli is easy to grow with prolific yields. After the first harvest, side shoots develop for additional picking. Like other broccoli, kailaan packs a lot of nutrition. It’s a source of vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium.
Kailaan matures in 60 to 70 days. In mild climates, a fall sowing of the Asian green yields a cool-season harvest.
Gai Choy Mustard
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botanical name Brassica juncea subsp. integrifolia |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 10-12” |
Gai Choy brings curled leaves and crunchy stems with robust and spicy authentic Chinese mustard flavor. Mature plants form a cabbage head, while fresh, small leaves are milder for fresh eating as baby greens. Save full-sized leaves for cooking, where they soften and mellow.
Gai Choy is high in vitamin C and A. It also contains beta-carotene, iron, calcium, and potassium. Young leaves are ready in as little as 40 days from seed and fully mature in 60. Harvest these fall Asian greens as microgreens and baby leaves at two inches tall.
Bunching Onions ‘Tokyo Long White’
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botanical name Allium fistulosum ‘Tokyo Long White’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 16-18” |
Bunching onions, also called scallions, green, or spring onions, are easy-to-grow, frost-tolerant fall Asian greens that are tasty fresh or cooked. Japanese bunching onions like ‘Tokyo Long White’ have a mild, sweet, subtle oniony flavor and long, slender stalks. Like mini leeks, the juicy shoots are suitable for any dish that calls for onions.
Along with the slim white stems are the flavorful blue-green tops, ready to garnish any cuisine. ‘Tokyo Long’ is disease-resistant to pink root and smut. Shoots are ready to harvest in about 65 days from sowing.
In mild climates, sow ‘Tokyo Long White’ in fall for a winter harvest. For cold climates with short growing seasons, wait for late winter and early spring to sow (about four to six weeks before the final frost). Sow successional rounds every two to four weeks to enjoy all spring.
Tatsoi
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botanical name Brassica rapa subsp. narinosa |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 4-6” |
Tatsoi is an ancient Asian green for fall culinary goodness and ornamental appeal. Spoon-shaped leaves form a flat, spreading rosette. Soft, full, and smooth, the tender greens have exceptional flavor and are attractive in pots or along a bed edge.
Tatsoi is more cold-tolerant than its bok choy relative, hardy to 15°F (-9°C). It also contains higher levels of calcium and vitamins. Some find it has a superior flavor to bok choy, with more mustard hints for added richness.
Rosette tatsoi is a fast-growing crop that develops fully in about 45 days from sowing. Pretty in containers, the rosettes expand when given ample space between plantings.
Komatsuna Japanese Spinach
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botanical name Brassica rapa var. perviridis |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 12-18” |
Komatsuna is a traditional Japanese green that blends the flavor profile of a smooth spinach with a mild mustard, sweet and not bitter. High in vitamins C, A, and K, Komatsuna has additional minerals like folate, beta-carotene, and iron. These fall Asian greens contain more calcium than standard spinach.
Komatsuna matures in 45 to 60 days, but is best for picking at 30 to 40 days for tender new growth. Seedlings emerge quickly in five to ten days after sowing. The cold-hardy Japanese spinach also withstands heat, though it will bolt in extended hot conditions. The attractive leaves are dark, glossy green with white stems and veins.
