But lately it has been appearing in almost all the gardening catalogs and seed racks around. It's mesclun, also known as cut-and-come-again and designer greens. Arriving from Southern France, mesclun (and its closely related Italian cousin known as misticanza) is a mixture of very young salad greens. In Europe they take their mesclun seriously, making it with exact proportions of chervil, arugula, lettuce and endive. The idea is to make a salad that touches upon every taste and texture sensation: bitter, sweet, tangy, crunchy and silky.

The gardening advantage of mesclun is that it can be grown virtually anyplace, in plots, hanging pots and on window sills. In Barrow I grew it under a grow light in my office, as well as on a ledge along the living room window. In Fairbanks, I start a pot of chives and a pot of mesclun in early February. Not only does it make spring seem that much closer, but by lavishing attention on these two pots I am able to control those urges to prematurely start all my flowers and vegetables. And, considering that mesclun can go for well over $3 a bag in the grocery store, this may be one garden crop that actually costs less to grow than to buy.

Of course, I don't adhere strictly to the mesclun of Provencal France, and neither do the purveyors who sell prepared seed mixes. American versions are heavier on the lettuce and frequently avoid or minimize the bitter or sharp flavors of arugula and endive. In fact, catalogs frequently feature a piquant and a mild variety and advise gardeners to grow both and then adjust the flavor by adding more or less of the spicy blend to the salad bowl.

If you prefer to experiment with designing your own mesclun, be sure to draw from the various categories of greens so that you end up with a product that is both tasty and colorful. The base of mesclun is lettuce, and while all four types (loose-leaf, cos, butterhead and crisphead) can be planted, the leaf varieties grow rapidly and offer the most hues of green and red.

The bitters can be represented by chicory, endive, radicchio and dandelion. Spice is added with mustards, radishes, escarole, watercress and nasturtiums. The exotics include mizuna, with its delicate fringed leaves, and purslane, which is considered a weed in some places but is a mild, uncommon addition to the mix.

I like a taste of herbs, so onion chives, garlic chives and basil are always part of my mix. The National Garden Bureau recommends dill, anise, caraway, chervil, lovage, coriander and angelica as good herb additions. I round out the mesclun with spinach and chard.

Because many greens germinate well even in cold temperatures, this is a crop that you can start early--as much as two weeks before the last frost date. Sow mesclun thickly, in a sunny or partly sunny location. Keep the patch well-watered and feed with a high nitrogen fertilizer every couple of weeks throughout the season. Uneven watering can lead to stunting, bolting and bitterness.

When the leaves reach a height of about 4 to 5 inches, certainly no taller than 6, take a pair of sharp scissors and cut off the top 2 or 3 inches of growth. How long it will take for mesclun to get to 4 inches depends on the components, but you will be eating your crop no longer than a month after seeding.

Harvest before or after the heat of the day. If you must pick at mid-day, refresh leaves wilted by the sun by soaking them in a bowl of ice water. Dry with paper towels, as a lettuce spinner will bruise these young greens and destroy the crispy texture that is one of the chief pleasures of mesclun.