‘Vit’ Corn Salad (Mâche)

The small leaves make a nice nutty/floral flavour addition to salads. Sow in early spring or in late summer for overwintering. Super tender. Slow to germinate. Seed in a row or block, around 1 seed/cm; lightly cover with soil. 50 days.

Certified organic in British Columbia. IOPA # 1606, 1105, 1920.

How to Save Corn Salad Seed

Fast Facts

Latin: Valerianella locusta

Cross Pollination: Will cross with other varieties of same species

Learn more about cross pollination, isolation distance and population size, and why they matter in our blog post Seed Saving 101

Seeding and Care

Seed plants 6” apart or seed densely and thin to desired spacing. Care for plants as usual, avoid picking greens off seed plants and rogue out small, deformed, sickly or fast-bolting plants. 

Seed Maturity

Seeds will drop very easily once ripe. Watch the plants carefully, and once the majority of seeds are fully formed and beginning to turn from green to brown, cut the plants and lay them to dry carefully, without jostling too much to avoid dropping seeds. The seeds will finish ripening and drying once cut, and this will allow you to catch them on the tarp as they drop. 

Seed Cleaning

Shake the plants and rub them between your hands, while wearing clean dry gloves, to dislodge the seeds. Shake the threshed material through a screen, allowing the seeds to pass through and the larger debris to remain on the top. Then, winnow using wind or a fan, pouring seeds from one container to another while allowing the lighter chaff to blow away.