Anyone growing Malabar Spinach? Not really a spinach, but acts like one, sorta. It is widely grown in India, SE Asia, loves HOT weather. I was introduced to it by my market neighbor, family is from Laos. In checking on it, can be grown up on a trellis, or sprawling on ground. I am looking to try a couple of containers with some type of trellis for next season.
It can be fixed like spinach or chard, that being raw in salad, lightly steamed or stir fried. It is tasty and vitamin rich, a real plus.
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ElizabethB
- Super Green Thumb
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- Location: Lafayette, LA
I'm with Elizabeth on this one====keep us posted at to how it does. I love spinach but by late spring it bolts in my part of the world and I can't plant it again until early fall. I love Swiss Chard too and have had success with it lasting much later than spinach, but it does fade badly when it gets close to mid summer here.
It is easy to grow but it is a vine and needs a trellis or a fence. It has pretty berries. It is a spinach substitute, if you like okra you might like it. the taste is mild but it is slimy. It can be used raw in salads but the leaves are thick so usually they are sliced thin and if it is cooked, it needs to be cooked lightly or it get more slimy. It works well in stir fries.
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applestar
- Mod
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- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
I've grown the red stemmed variety. I liked it at first, and it grows very reliably through the summer here. Gorgeous looking plant with pretty flowers and eventually berries. Very decorative. (unfortunately it doesn't look like any of our local wild birds eat these berries though....)
It got to the point where I was tired of eating these leaves and I ended up letting them grow wild. The vines and leaves died down with frost and quickly broke down over the winter and made excellent green manure... and then I found out that it reliably self seeds
ALL OVER.
After three years of finding volunteer seedlings everywhere, I thoroughly weeded and then thoroughly hoed the beds where they grew. In previous years, this still left a dozen or so volunteers to choose from, but this spring after more severe and actually "normal" winter, I didn't have any volunteers.
So this is my first year *not* growing them in several years. But now that I probably can count on not have any come back next year, I think I'm going to try growing New Zealand spinach and that other one --Egyptian or something-- that I think imafan and somebody else mentioned before.
It got to the point where I was tired of eating these leaves and I ended up letting them grow wild. The vines and leaves died down with frost and quickly broke down over the winter and made excellent green manure... and then I found out that it reliably self seeds
ALL OVER.After three years of finding volunteer seedlings everywhere, I thoroughly weeded and then thoroughly hoed the beds where they grew. In previous years, this still left a dozen or so volunteers to choose from, but this spring after more severe and actually "normal" winter, I didn't have any volunteers.
So this is my first year *not* growing them in several years. But now that I probably can count on not have any come back next year, I think I'm going to try growing New Zealand spinach and that other one --Egyptian or something-- that I think imafan and somebody else mentioned before.
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HonoluluGirl
- Senior Member
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- Location: Hawaii