The idea is to create a salad with a good balance of strong and mild flavoured greens.
Often Mesclun contains a mixture of leaves from lettuce, endive, chicory, frisee, spinach, sorrel, swiss chard, mustard, arugula, radicchio and or chervil.
Mesclun is best when harvested as tender young leaves.
For extra flavor some people add herbs like thyme and oregano to the mix.
I think 4 different leaves are enough to make a good Mesclun with no one flavour or texture dominating the others.
How to Grow Mesclun
Grow from seed and cut the leaves as you need them. Many will work as cut and come again micro salad leaves.
Salad leaves are mostly water and so you need a soil that is open but water retentive. I have found miracle grow compost has worked well this year.
Water regularly but remember soggy leaves will not be appetising.
I grow in containers and grow bags to leave open ground for more robust crops.
Seeds are ready to crop from 30-40 days as sweet young leaves.
Sow at 2 weekly intervals for regular supplies. Germination is best in cool spring and autumn temperatures.
How to Harvest Mesclun
When leaves are at least 4†tall you can start cutting.
Collect mixed leaves in a basket or bowl and snip with a pair of scissors.
Gently hold a clump of leaves with one hand while cutting with the other. Leave 1â€â€“2†of leafy crowns on the plants so they can regrow for another harvest.
You should get 2 or 3 crops from each plant.
Gardeners Tips and Comments
Aim for a mix of sweet and stronger leaves.
A mix with yellow and red leaves as well as green can look attractive and we eat with our eyes first.
Mesclun may have originated in France but good gardeners can improve on French attempts at a salad.
