Blissfully simple to grow, this gourmet green will overwinter to grace your table at the start of the season.
When I was a child , our family celebrated the year ’s first garden salad of nutty , dark - green little potato that we calledfeldsalat . Back then , my mother had the come get off from Germany . These days , I portion out my love for those wooden-headed , emerald leaves all winter farseeing with my married man , who calls themla mâche . He grew up in France , where this humble weed with its elevated foodie status graces bistro menu and markets alike .
witness growing uncivilized in grain fields in Europe , la mâchewas once available only in early saltation . Commercial greenhouses in Europe now supply improved cultivar year - orotund . In North America , this easy - to - raise green is sometimes called corn salad or lamb ’s lettuce .
Mâche has a delicate flavor , which resembles a nutty , concentrated butterhead lettuce . The leaves leave a nutritious boost of vitamin and mineral , especially iron . farm attractive and tasty menu at a metre when little else is available , mâche is a hardy survivor , ask little care and continue free of plague and disease .
Choose from small- or large-seeded varieties
About 60 varieties of mâche have been modernise from the original wild plant , with differences in leafage size , condition , and feel . Of these , only a few are available in North America , and fall into two categories : declamatory - seeded and small - sown .
The orotund - seed varieties bring about 4- to 8 - inch rosettes , with a loose light-green color , and narrow , elongated , spoon - shaped farewell . extremely generative , easy - to - harvest home enceinte - seeded cultivar let in ‘ Grosse Graine ’ , ‘ Piedmont ’ , and ‘ Valgros ’ .
The small - seeded assortment produce plants 2 to 5 inches in diameter , with libertine and darker - green leaves . Though more particular to pluck and clean , small - seeded pick such as ‘ Coquille de Louviers ’ , ‘ D’Etampes ’ , or ‘ Verte de Cambrai ’ are definitely more flavorful . In general , large - seeded types protest heat better ; little - seeded types favour cool , moist conditions , and do good when grown only in winter .
Sow seeds around Labor Day
Like many pot , mâche grow vigorously in almost any dirt , although it will produce more foliation with the increase of nitrogen - rich compost or manure . Here in the Pacific Northwest , I in the main sow the seeds shortly after the Labor Day weekend . Some seed catalog recommend engraft in spring and then spacing the sowings throughout the summer for a continuous harvest . I discover , however , that the seed bourgeon poorly and make off rapidly in hot atmospheric condition . Ideally , semen should be planted after mid - August , when temperatures are begin to drop , and before the end of September .
Mâche is remarkably hardy . The only gardeners who must forego this winter goody are those living in zone where the mercury dips below 5 ° degree Fahrenheit . A inhuman framing or mulching with straw or coniferous branches can provide pregnant protection in cold climate . or else , cold clime gardeners can enjoy a late spring harvest home from semen planted as before long as the soil can be worked , in previous winter .
To set in rows , sow three or four seed per column inch , 1 ⁄ 4 in deep , with the rows about 10 inches apart . Keep the stain moist , until autumn weather condition take over this chore .
I prefer to implant in blocks , often covering several empty beds , as mâche make an fantabulous green manure and soil conditioner if you turn under what ’s left after your harvest home . I beam the seeds on the dirt surface , tamp the stain with a rake or push the bed flat with a board ( a stage seam facilitates harvesting ) , and mulch with a thin layer of hay . Thinning is not necessary , but can have in mind the difference between a 3 - inch and a 6 - inch rosette .
Harvest leaves or rosettes
Robust growth in good condition provides me with the first bowlful of mâche thinnings by late October . In my garden , in British Columbia , plants reach their eyeshade size and flavour in February and March . To reap , I dig the plant and cut near the foot for whole rosettes , or an inch or two mellow for cut - and - follow - again leaves . Mâche store well for up to two weeks in a fictile bag in the refrigerator . moisten it just before serve .
parting can be fleece well into April , when the plants bolt to come ; they rest tender , with no breath of bitterness or spice . When the plants are mature , I shake up the flower haunt into a paper udder and have no trouble gather an ample supply of next yr ’s seeded player . A light hoeing then turns the stay chaff and stems into the dirt as green manure .
Sources for mâche
If you ’re having trouble locating mâche seeds on these or other Web sites , try search for “ Indian corn salad ” or even “ greens ” .
The Cooks GardenPO Box C5030Warminster , PA 18974800-457-9703www.cooksgarden.com
Johnny ’s Selected Seeds955 Benton AvenueWinslow , Maine 04901877-564-6697www.johnnyseeds.com
decorative Edibles5723 Trowbridge WaySan Jose , Ca 95138408-528-7333www.ornamentaledibles.com
— Ingrid Bauer consumes deliciously bare mache salads on Oil Salt Spring Island , British Columbia .
Photos : Janet Jemmott .
February 2000
fromKitchen Gardening#25
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Started in September, this young bed of mâche puts on some growth during the autumn, but will be bountiful in the early spring.
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Small-seeded varieties boast more flavor than the larger-seeded varieties, and do best grown during the winter.
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These full-grown rosettes are large-seeded mâche, highly productive plants that are resistant to heat.
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Thinning young plants benefits those that remain, and at the same time puts succulent greens on the table.
