Perpetual Spinach

[watervole]

I should have said perpetual spinach yesterday instead of New Zealand Spinach.  The two are different (I couldn't find the seed packet)  I need to get some seeds....

It has a long cropping period.

When we took over our allotment, it was the only plant there (the previous plot holder had left it in really good condition, covered up beds with black fabric as he removed the crops, so we had very few weeds to deal with).   For many months, until stuff we had planted grew, it was the only crop we could harvest.  We came to appreciate its merits and to know how well it responded to a mulch of grass clippings.

It's definitely worth letting one of them go to seed - the seed comes up in places that are just right for the plant - it seems to like areas that were manured the year before.  and, conveniently, they only start to put on real growth about the time you are harvesting other stuff, so they don't really get in the way until space is becoming available anyway.

It isn't actually perpetual, but it does crop for a long time. 

Comments

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Do I understand you right? I think the plant you describe is in fact Perpetual Spinach aka Leaf Beet. I've just goofled 'New Zealand Spinach' and found lots of crops with spinach-like leaves but I'm inclined to stay with the Perpetual one because I know that it grows well here in Yorkshire.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Yes, should be perpetual spinach. I'm not quite sure why I thought it was New Zealand spinach - when I check, that crops at a different time of year.

My spinach is okay to pick now.