🥬 Mâche
How to grow
Mâche (pronounced 'mosh,' also called corn salad or lamb's lettuce) is the cool-season green for people who think spinach is a drama queen. It germinates in soil as cold as 40°F, survives hard frosts that kill lettuce outright, and happily grows under a cold frame or row cover all winter in zones 6+. Sow in late summer through fall — it needs cool soil to germinate and sulks if sown in warmth.
The seeds are tiny and slow to wake up (7–14 days), so mark your rows and don't assume failure. Sow a quarter inch deep, keep consistently moist, and thin to rosettes 4–6 inches apart. The plants form low, velvety rosettes of spoon-shaped leaves with a mild, nutty flavor — no bitterness, no bolt panic, just quiet competence.
In mild-winter regions (looking at you, Gulf South), mâche sown in October harvests from December through March. It's one of the few greens that genuinely prefers winter, which makes it the introvert hero of the cold frame.
Water & feeding
Keep evenly moist, especially during germination — a board or burlap over the row holds moisture until sprouts appear. About an inch a week once growing. A light worm casting top-dress at sowing feeds the slow start without pushing soft growth.
Common problems
- Slow/spotty germination: soil too warm — wait for soil below 68°F; pre-chill seed helps.
- Slugs: the low rosettes are slug-adjacent real estate — iron phosphate bait, beer traps, or copper barriers.
- Bolting in spring warmth: harvest heavily before day length and heat trigger flowering; it's a winter crop, let it go.
- Weeds: slow early growth means weeds win — mulch between plants or sow in weed-free beds.
Harvest
Cut whole rosettes at the base or pick outer leaves for cut-and-come-again. Harvest in the morning for crispness. The tiny blue-white flowers are edible too, if you let a plant bolt for the pollinators.