Plant of the Day: Mache
Photo of Mache (Valerianella locusta)

Photo by Cornell University


Cold Salad


The end of summer by the calendar is upon us. Time to start crops for harvest in the cool weather of autumn, or even into early winter. This one, mache, has been grown for centuries in Europe, but hardly at all in U.S. gardens. You sow the seeds now and soon you will have a small rosette of short, cupped leaves, very low to the ground. To keep rains from splattering the plants with dirt, cover your mache bed from the start with floating row cover, the gauzy white fabric sold at garden shops.


Mache is hardy. It survives frosts in the low 20s. Keep sowing seeds to mid-autumn or later for continuous harvests into winter. For more information about mache and other plants that you can harvest into early winter or longer, find a copy of Binda Colebrook’s classic book, “Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest.”


Along with mild, sweet flavor, mache is loaded with Vitamin C. The easy way to use the plant is to cut the leaves for salads. New leaves will grow, but slowly. For steady production, it’s best to have a number of plants of different ages. Over its long history, mache has acquired several common names. The most intriguing is Rapunzel (odd for such a low-growing plant). Others include lamb’s lettuce and field salad.


By Mark Kane - the Groundskeeper, YourGardenShow.com

Copyright © 2012 YourGardenShow.com

Want to read more about this plant and other varieties? Click here for the Mache (Valerianella locusta) Plant Page!

Plant Photo Tagging - How it Works

Video by Tom Finerty, founder YourGardenShow.com

Plant Photo Tagging allows you to turn any garden photo into a rich tapestry of what you have planted. It’s fun, informative, and helpful to others visiting your garden. As you photo tag, you can easily add plant names from our database and/or make notes about anything you’d like. To get started, sign-in and go to your Garden.


Click on any image in your garden's slideshow Carousel to get to full-view mode. Click on the “Tag” icon just below your photo and you are ready to tag! Simply click and drag your mouse over a plant or area you’d like to highlight or tag. A pop-up box will appear and ask for either a plant name or a note - add one or both, then click “tag” and you’ve just tagged your garden!


Write and tell us your suggestion for a "How it Works" video:
how-it-works@yourgardenshow.com


For more info contact: help@yourgardenshow.com

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Plant of the Day archive

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