Tag Archives: corn salad

Square foot gardening-1st class

corn salad or mache in square foot gardeningAfter a hard December and early January, we’ve ended up with a pretty mild winter season. With daytime temperatures in the high 50’s and 60’s, it’s time to start getting your square foot gardens ready for spring. I’m betting we’ll still have some rougher weather in the weeks to come, but that’s okay because our limited sized gardens are easy to protect and cover.

Beginning at 11:00 AM on February 14th, I’ll be teaching the first SFG class of the season. You will learn all the basic along with why you won’t be needing to spend any more money on fancy pesticides and/or fertilizers. You don’t need them-unless you’re doing something incorrect. This class is 2 hours long and is structured as a workshop to allow participants hands-on experience. For the northern Utah gardeners looking to do a lot less work, no weeding, no thinning, and no all-at-once harvests, come on out and learn the easiest way to garden.

Being a workshop, please bring a pair of garden gloves-we’ll be outside working in the perfect soil to grow anything and learning about compost.

Instead of spending $50 on some roses, why not learn how to grow your own food all spring for half that amount? It would be a great Valentine’s Day gift[ois skin=”1″]

4 Season gardening at it’s best

corn salad or mache in the four season garden

compost, 4 season gardening

Things doing well in my winter garden right now.  If you’ve never tried to have a 4 season garden you should reconsider-especially you northern climate gardeners.  It’s one of the most enjoyable times of all.  You end up harvesting crops that you can’t grow in the summer months because it’s too warm for them.  It forces you to eat seasonally.  This is mache, or corn salad depending on where you’re from.  The winter garden-no work.  I’ve begun harvesting this square which will last for a week.  I’ll snip some of this, and maybe some radicchio, and a little tatsoi for a delicious salad.  To increase your chances for success for the winter garden it’s important get the soil right by amending with quality compost and the right crop selection to match the season.[ois skin=”1″]

Love this

corn salad or mache 102713Another delicious winter crop-Mache, or better known as corn salad in the states, is easy to grow and it comes up quickly. This will be ready to start cutting in about 2 weeks. In Europe it’s harvested as a whole plant and served in fancy salads. If you find it in high end restaurants in America it’s served the same way. But for the home gardener, you can use it as a cut-and-come again crop. This lengthens the availability of mache significantly for home use. It’s got a different taste-almost a nutty flavor, but it’s something that you’ll love for winter and spring salads. You won’t find it in summer salads because it doesn’t grow in warm weather. It’s categorized as a winter annual.

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