Samourai Mix

The 'Samurai Mix' Cut Salad Mix is a colourful, varied, and flavourful Mesclun to be harvested from May to November. The young shoots are consumed when they are tender and crunchy. They reveal spicy and zesty flavours, highly appreciated for bringing freshness and adding taste to salads, dishes, cheeses, or sandwiches. Aesthetically pleasing, this mix of leaves adds colour to plates. In the vegetable garden, it grows quickly and can accompany most vegetables, especially in between rows, such as tomatoes or beans that will provide shade in the summer. The seeds are sown under cover in February-March-April and September-October, and in open ground from May to August.

Mesclun, from the Provençal word "mesclum" meaning mixture, is a salad composed of different varieties. The Asian Mesclun is a mix of six varieties of Asian vegetables with a spicy flavour. 'Samurai Mix' consists of finely cut red mustard with bronze foliage; tatsoi, a cold-resistant Chinese cabbage with thick leaves and a mild flavour; red pak choi, a sweeter and milder Chinese cabbage; mizuna, a Japanese cabbage with crunchy green leaves and a peppery taste; cultivated rocket with wild leaves and a strong and spicy flavour; and land cress, an annual plant with ultra-fast germination and leaves with a spicy and aromatic flavour. This mix of colours and flavours is highly appreciated for its wide range of tastes. This small salad is usually harvested at the "young shoot" stage and can be consumed raw or cooked almost all year round.

Busy gardeners will appreciate these seed mixes as much as gourmets, as they allow for a variety of flavours with little expense and a single sowing.

These salads are called "cut" because they often have the ability to regrow after harvesting, as long as the entire stem has not been harvested.

Growing these mixes is easy and space-saving, as they can be grown in planters on a balcony or in restricted spaces such as square-foot gardens.

Harvesting: These salad mixes can be harvested as needed, either when they are young or mature. Harvesting is done with a knife by removing the leaves on the outer edge of the plant.

Storage: Mesclun can be stored for a few days in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator, but ideally, it should be consumed immediately after picking to enjoy its freshness.

Gardener's tip: Flea beetles, tiny beetles, are fond of Rocket leaves, which are often part of the Mesclun mix. They meticulously puncture the leaves in dry and hot weather. While spraying Tansy infusion can limit the damage, installing insect netting from sowing is the most effective method of control, avoiding the use of insecticides which, even if natural, can have consequences on the garden's balance.