March 19, 2011

Corn salad or Valerianella locusta

Corn saladImage via Wikipedia

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  • Corn salad - "Corn salad is a small dicot annual plant of the family Valerianaceae. It is also called Lewiston cornsalad, lamb's lettuce, fetticus, field salad, mâche, feldsalat, nut lettuce and rapunzel." - Wikipedia
  • Corn salad - "When cultivated in gardens, Lamb's Lettuce may be sown in rows all through the autumn, winter and early spring, so as to produce a constant succession of crops. A small portion of garden earth sown with the seeds in August, will supply an excellent portion of the salad throughout the winter. The younger the leaves, the better they taste in salad." - A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve
  • Corn salad 'Dutch' - with planting calendar - myfolia.com
  • Valerianella locusta - "Corn salad is a small, weedy-looking vegetable that grows in a basal rosette of round to spoon-shaped leaves up to 6 in (15.2 cm) long. The whole rosette is never more than 1 ft (0.3 m) across." - Floridata
  • Valerianella locusta (L.) Lat. Lewiston cornsalad - Map of distribution in North America, plants profile - US Department of Agriculture
Diary
  • April 3, 2011
I had kept some of the plants in a greenhouse and they are blossoming now. I plant them outside to harvest seeds later. What a tiny little flower!












  • March 19, 2011
Today i harvested corn salad. I sowed the plants in pots last autumn and planted them outside in November, 3 plants together, some 15 cm apart in the line, rows about 40 cm apart. I gave them quite some compost as all leafy vegetables like that. Although the winter gave quite some frost, the plants survived on their own without damage. Cold months of January, February and March slowed down growth but now we have plenty of fresh salad.
The corn salad i am harvesting now


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Posted by John Eagles at 10:37 AM

2 comments:

  1. DianaMarch 19, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    Hi John,
    In a foraging day I went to last summer, I found out that the leaves of the kind of little Daisies that grow in the lawn are delicious sauteed in a little butter. You cut the whole plant off just below the leaves, keeping the plant in one piece-flower buds and all. Another surprise was steamed Dock Leaves. The young ones taste a bit like they have lemon juice on them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John EaglesMarch 27, 2011 at 9:44 PM

    Thanks for the tips Diana. Yes, many wild plants and flowers can be eaten. I'll keep in mind the plants you mentioned.

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