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French Corn Salad (Valerianella olitoria) is a cool-season leafy green that produces tender, spoon-shaped leaves in tight rosettes ready to harvest in just 40 days. Also known as mâche or lamb's lettuce, this open-pollinated annual thrives in early spring and fall gardens, reaching just 3 to 6 inches tall. Its mild, nutty flavor and delicate texture make it a refreshing addition to salads or light cooking, and it adapts beautifully to garden plots, raised beds, and containers.
Full Sun
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3-9
6in H x ?in W
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Moderate
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French Corn Salad delivers remarkable speed from seed to table in under six weeks, making it one of the quickest cool-season greens you can grow. The small, rosette-forming plants demand minimal space, needing just 4 inches between plants and 12 inches between rows, so even tight gardens can support a productive planting. Its spoon-shaped leaves have a distinctive mild, nutty character that distinguishes it from more assertive salad greens, and the tender growth flourishes in the cool months when heat-loving crops fade.
French Corn Salad shines as a fresh salad green, where its tender leaves and mild, nutty flavor work beautifully in cool-season salads. The delicate rosettes can also be lightly cooked, making them suitable for gentle applications where heartier greens would overpower a dish. Its quick turnaround and compact size make it especially useful for succession planting throughout spring and fall.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Direct-sow seeds in early spring as soon as soil can be worked, or in late summer for a fall harvest. For spring planting, sow as soon as the soil is workable; for fall crops, sow 6 to 8 weeks before the first expected frost. French Corn Salad germinates and grows quickly in cool conditions, so timing for season-appropriate temperatures is more important than indoor starting.
Harvest French Corn Salad when the rosettes are fully formed but still young and tender, typically 40 days after sowing. The entire rosette can be cut at the base just above soil level, or individual outer leaves can be picked to encourage continued growth. Harvest in the early morning when leaves are most crisp, and use the tender leaves immediately for the best flavor and texture.
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