Mache, corn salad, lamb lettuce

Mache (Valerianella locusta), also called lamb lettuce, or corn salad, is a small annual leaf vegetable.  It is used raw much like lettuce, but only grows in cooler weather.

Mache self seeds in my garden, but not as readily as I would like.  I would prefer if this self seeded a whole lot more because I really like to eat it.  It also grows with no help from me at all, mostly because it grows over the cooler months when it tends to rain a bit here.

Mache is a rather obscure salad vegetable that is only eaten by those who grow it themselves or people who forage for it if it grows wild near them.  Archaelogical evidence shows that it was eaten in the Stone Age lake dwellings throughout Switzerland.  It used to be very popular in Europe because it survives cold weather.  

Mache practically disappeared once large scale farming became the norm.  It does not cope with storage or transport, and it has to be harvested by hand, so if you want to eat it you really must grow it yourself.  Given how simple it is to grow, how tasty it is, and how nutritious it is, I think everyone should have a little self-seeding patch of corn salad in their yard. 

Mache corn salad leaves

 

Mache is tremendously more nutritious than lettuce, and in my opinion tastes far better than any lettuce.  Its downfalls are that it won't grow during the warmer months, and it is dreadfully low yielding.

I often forget all about this little plant until it germinates, then I impatiently wait for it to grow large enough to eat.  I think most people pluck entire plants to eat but I pick individual leaves so each plant can eventually flower and drop seed.  After mache flowers it drops seed and dies, then I forget about it until the seeds start to germinate the following winter.  I don't tend to collect seeds, I just let them fall and remain in the soil to germinate where they want to.

Much like everything that you grow from seed, each generation you are applying selective pressure and creating at least some genetic drift.   In my garden the smaller and slower growing plants are eaten and not allowed to flower.  The larger growing plants are allowed to flower and drop seed, this ensures the next generation carry strong genetics and are capable of producing larger healthy plants.

I started with seed for 'Dutch' mache.  I was told that they would produce  the largest plants.  The plants were tiny, but delicious, so well worth growing.  After a few generations I now have plants that have slightly larger leaves.  

This is still a small plant and always will be, you would need to grow a lot to feed your family, but I enjoy the time of year when it is growing in my garden.

Miner's lettuce on left and mache on the right

 

This is one of the leaf vegetables that I wish grew during the heat of summer.  Unfortunately I doubt that it will ever be able to grow over summer.

I really should track down a few varieties and let them mass cross and try to select for larger plants.  For now I am enjoying eating the plants, after they drop seed I will likely forget about them until it is cool enough for them to germinate again.

My plants are growing now, and will start to flower in the coming weeks.  If I collect seed I will likely list it on my for sale page.  If I don't save seed, or I am sold out, there are a few places that sell seeds of mache so you should be able to find it somewhere.

Pygmy Drosera gemmae sprouting

Years ago I grew pymgy sundews, I really liked them.  I had a lot of species back then.  Strangely enough, even though they come from Australia very few people sell pygmy drosera here.  It appears that most of the species I grew are no longer offered for sale anywhere.  Maybe they are no longer in cultivation?  Who knows.

I had been looking for pygmy sundews for sale, but I am not willing to pay the prices that people sell them for (postage usually puts them well out of my price range).  Then I found someone who had pygmy sundew gemmae for sale.  He had a few different species and graciously agreed to give me a mix of two species for one price instead of making me pay for two lots.  These species look different from one another from an early age so I was happy to get a mix of gemmae.

Gemmae are like tiny cuttings that the plant made of itself.  They aren't much to look at, but gemmae tend to grow a lot faster than seed, and are exact genetic replicas of the parent plant.  Very few people sell pygmy drosera gemmae, which I find odd as pygmy sundew plants dislike being transplanted and the gemmae are so simple to grow and simple to post. 

This photo shows a mix of Drosera pulchella and Drosera pygmaea the day they arrived in the post.  There were a lot of black gemmae, but there were also a lot of healthy green gemmae.  Can you tell which gemmae are which species?  I can't tell these gemmae apart, so will have to wait until they grow to know which is which. 

Pygmy Drosera Gemmae

After they arrived I planted half of the gemmae in a pot that I kept inside on the kitchen windowsill, the other half in a pot that was kept outside with more sunlight.  I don't plant them, I scatter them on top of damp sphagnum peatmoss mixed with sand.  If you bury the gemmae they tend not to do very well.  It has been a little cold, so they took a little while to sprout.  At this stage I am not sure if only the green ones sprouted or if the black ones were also viable.  I will find out once they grow a little more and I can count them.

The ones inside my house had less sunlight, but more stable temperatures.  The ones outside had much more sunlight, warmer day time temperatures, and cooler night time temperatures.  I grew both in pots sitting in a tray of water, the water level is very high for now to maintain high humidity.  I will lower the water level once they grow a little bit.

The gemmae in the house sprouted first while the ones outside sprouted slightly later.  I am not sure if both species are sprouting or if one has sprouted first, but it doesn't matter.  

The ones in the house are noticeably larger than the ones outside.  I'm not sure if the house are healthy or if they stretching because they are lacking sunlight.  The ones outside are less advanced, but appear healthy.  Time will tell which is the best method of growing them.  

On second thoughts, I may move them all into my greenhouse and hope for the best.

Gemmae arrived 17/08/2021
Gemmae sprouting indoors 02/09/2021 
Gemmae sprouting outdoors 04/09/2021 
D pygmaea sending up flower stalks 19/11/2021 - two and a half months after gemmae sprouting

I should take a photo of the pygmy drosera when they are a little larger as they are super cutie carnivorous plants.  For now the sprouting gemmae are too tiny for me to photograph. 

Pygmy drosera gemmae sprouting outside

Pygmy Drosera gemmae sprouting in the house

 

I think that pygmy sundews are great, when actively growing they are like miniature glistening jewels.  Being so small they won't impress your non-carnivorous plant growing friends, and growing a pot full certainly won't rid your yard of flies and wasps, but I think they are very beautiful. 

Pygmy sundress flowering

Being tiny means you can easily grow pygmy sundews on a window sill where they may catch tiny gnats or small ants and the occasional pantry moth, and they quite happily live in small pots.  They tend to have surprisingly long roots, and dislike being transplanted, so it is best to use deeper pots.  A lot of them can fit in one pot, and each plant tends to grow a lot of gemmae so they can quickly cover an area.  Some species of pygmy sundews are very simple to grow, and are great for kids and beginners.

Breeding Muscari Grape Hyacinth

A couple of years ago I taught myself how to grow grape hyacinth Muscari armeniacum from seed.  Growing grape hyacinth from seed was really easy, and very cost effective, but took far more time than growing from bulbs.  I find that grape hyacinth take about 2 years to flower when grown from seed, which really isn't too long to wait considering how little space they use.

I have grown a few different generations of them since then and am starting to get some lines that are segregating.  Every year I think I should buy some different types, but I never do.  I planted seed from regular blue grape hyacinth and collected seed from those seed grown plants.  It appears that these spring bulbs carry some genetic diversity.

Seed grown grape hyacinth muscari flowers

As you can see above, some plants have light coloured flowers, while others have much darker flowers.  These don't appear to lighten or darken as they age, what you see is what you get.  These plants were the same age and growing side by side, so it is unlikely to be caused by environmental factors.

At this stage none of them appears significantly more or less vigorous than the others.  If I ever get a more vigorous line that produces more flowers per bulb, or larger flowers, or something interesting I will likely grow out that line further.

I really like the smell of grape hyacinths, and am yet to find any plants that have more or less fragrance than any others.  I would be likely to select lines that have a stronger scent if one ever appears in my garden.

My kids like picking spring flowers

 

My kids love to pick these flowers.  Normally if I were saving seed I would discourage picking, but muscari seem to set some seed even after they have been picked and kept in a tiny vase.  

Picking the flowers likely reduces the number of seeds that are produced, but I generally get a few seed pods per flower stalk so this never bothers me too much.  If I ever buy one of the expensive varieties to use for breeding then I may care a little more, but until then my kids can pick and enjoy the flowers.

Muscari grape hyacinth breeding

If you plan to grow grape hyacinths do try and be a little careful.  Under the right conditions they can spread, both by producing numerous bulbs as well as dropping seeds.  I have no idea if they are illegal to grow in any state, all I know is they are ok to grow in NSW.

I like the look of grape hyacinths, and the smell of them, and the bees seem to enjoy them in early spring/late winter, and they take next to no effort or space to grow, so I will keep growing them for now.  As you can see below my kids enjoy picking spring flowers for the table.

Spring flowers

Grape hyacinths and other flowers

While bulbs are often sold, very few places sell grape hyacinth seeds for some reason even though they are simple to grow.  I collect seed each year and sell seed, I also plant any of the seed that doesn't sell.  If you have these growing nearby you could collect the seeds yourself, or you can look on my for sale page if you are interested.

My New Greenhouse

I have grown plants for decades, strangely I have never used a greenhouse.  

I once tried those tiny plastic covered ones, the plastic did not last one season and now I use it as shelving to store pots of growing things.  When I was at university I also got to walk through some enormous commercial greenhouses which had automated vents and sprinklers, they were incredible.  Other than that, I have no greenhouse growing experience.

Recently my wife and kids built me a walk in greenhouse with many useful shelves.  At first I was worried about the price, and was not sure I would use it enough to warrant spending that much money.  

My new amazing greenhouse

Lots of growing space in here

I put a thermometer in my greenhouse that somehow talks to a unit that is in my house, and I have a weather station outside, between them I can compare the temperature of all three from my living room.  It is very convenient.

The first day after the greenhouse had been built the weather was rather warm outside, and rather hot in the greenhouse.  I can replace the plastic walls with shade cloth if it gets too hot, but for now we still have some cold weather so want it to retain some warmth.

The next day it was cold and rained all day, the greenhouse stayed a few degrees warmer in the greenhouse than outside.  

The day after that it was overcast, windy, and really freezing outside, but the greenhouse somehow warmed up considerably.  It was freezing outside, even inside my house was colder than the greenhouse!  This is with no sun, just gloom on a drizzly overcast day.  

I didn't think to take a photo of the weather station until after it warmed up a little outside.  That day the temperature outside reached about 9 degrees at its peak, inside my house got to about 14, and in the greenhouse eventually reached a toasty 17.9

Temperature outside 7.2C, in my house 14.0C, in greenhouse 16.7C

I have planted some seeds in seed flats and put them in the greenhouse, and moved in a few of our carnivorous plants, and put in some some cuttings that have not yet grown roots, as well as some of my suffering tropicals, and will see how each of them cope with the added day time warmth.  

Oddly enough, the night time temperatures in the greenhouse are colder than outside by a degree or two.  I imagine this is due to evaporation and wind.  I am also guessing that once the outside temperatures drop below freezing that the greenhouse will remain warmer than outside and should keep off the frost.

Sundew seedlings are already catching insects

Sundew already catching a surprising amount of insects

I have a feeling that tropical plants such as kangkong and rice paddy herb will thrive in my greenhouse, and there are a bunch of things I currently don't grow as winters are too cold that I may now be able to try.  There are also some things I grow that perform poorly here that may do fine in my greenhouse.  It is all very new.

I have no idea what will happen over summer, and hope it does not get too hot in there.  The walls can be removed and replaced with shade cloth, as can the roof, so it may take some trial and error to work out a nice routine with it.  

I am excited to see what I can do with this thing!

Yam Daisy (murnong) from seed

There are three species of native perennial root vegetable called Yam Daisy (also called Murnong), the one I am growing is Microseris walteri.  

I am told that of the three, M walteri is the tastiest, and grows the largest fattest roots with the least fiber.  Yam daisy used to be considered as one single species, then one species with several different subspecies, now it is considered to be three separate species (although there may be more lurking out there).

Yam daisy used to be very common around here and was a staple food prior to European settlement, but it is very rare now.  Sadly the yam daisy has all but disappeared from much of its native range.  I know very few people who have ever eaten yam daisy, and even less who have grown it.  

I had been looking for yam daisy plants or seeds for a few years but was never able to get it.  A year or two ago a very generous grower friend of mine asked if I could track down some yam daisy seeds for him.  He has given me plenty of seeds over the years so I put in some decent effort and started to look around online and ask around a bit more seriously.  For some reason everywhere has been sold out.  I found one place selling 10 seeds for $8 (plus postage), but that price is absurd for something that is meant to have low germination rates so I kept looking.

Yam Daisy seedlings germinating

Yam daisy is native to my area, and there are some growing not more than 50m from my house.  Unfortunately they are on crown land, so I can not touch them.  I don't think I am even allowed to collect their seed without a permit.  

I know of a native plant nursery up the road who has yam daisy, unfortunately they are not selling their plants as they are building up stock, plus they could not tell me which species they had.

I found some yam daisy seeds for sale recently, they were Microseris walteri.  I planted half of the seeds and posted the other half of the seeds to my friend.  It took me a few years, bit I finally got him some seeds.

I have heard that yam daisy usually displays a germination rate of about 10%.  I planted a dozen seeds, and hoped that with a bit of luck I should get 2 or 3 of them to grow.  I figured from there I could build up numbers in time.

I surface sowed the seeds in late winter, partially protected them from the heaviest frosts, and had 100% germination.  Every single seed germinated, even the smaller brown seeds that I assumed were not viable have germinated!  

My guess is fresh seeds germinate well and germination drops off quickly in older seed.  That's good to know.

Murnong seedlings - 100% germination from fresh seeds

I don't really know how to grow yam daisy, but they are native to this region so they should survive.  Hopefully these grow well for me and produce seed in season. 

If they grow for me and produce seed I would love to do a little yam daisy breeding to see if I can produce fatter roots, or sweeter roots, or generally improved plants.

I have no idea how much (if any) genetic diversity is in my stock, but I assume they are completely different to the local plants growing near by.  As the native plants are so close, and there are a large number of native pollinators here, it is reasonable to assume there will be some local pollen finding its way into my stock.  That will introduce diversity, and make breeding improved plants a little easier.

Given how absurdly difficult yam daisy is to come by, and the fact that they ought to be more commonly grown through their native home range, if I ever have any spare seed or extra plants I will offer them through my for sale page.  These seedlings are only germinating and getting their first true leaves now, so I can't imagine I will have anything for sale overly soon.

Update 06 November 2021: my plants are about to send up flower stalks.  They are very young, so I had expected this to still be a long time off.

Look closely, the plants on the right are sending up flower stalks