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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-288
Corn Salad
Valerianella locusta
Corn salad, also called mache, is a small winter salad green with a very mild, delicate flavour that makes it prized as a garnish and salad base rather than a bulk crop. It runs the opposite calendar to most greens - sown from early autumn through late winter, it takes hard frost and light snow and finishes before the first hot week arrives. Left to bolt in spring, the whole plant, including the flowers, stays edible, and the seed it drops re-establishes the bed the following autumn without being resown. A close native relative already grows wild on disturbed, moist ground and can be foraged in spring instead of buying seed.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–8
- Soil
- Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–7.5
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 12–24 in
- Mature spread
- 12–24 in
- Plant spacing
- 4–12 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
Adzuki is the odd one out among the beans in this group: a very hot summer is actively too hot for it, since heat above about 35C damages…
Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
African Eggplant, also called gboma or scarlet eggplant, is a West and Central African relative of eggplant that gives two harvests from one…
Herbaceous · USDA 8–12
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–11
Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
Anise
Pimpinella anisum
Anise is a single-season annual grown for its aromatic seed, which flavors bread, sweets and spirits like pernod and ouzo, while the young…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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