Spinach

Malabar Spinach or Indian Spinach - basella alba, b. rubra, b. cordifolia 

Family:   Basellaceae
Habit:    Frost-tender perennial
Height:   9.0       

Malabar Spinach is not really a spinach at all, but the taste is similar and it is better suited to summer growing than real spinach.  The large meaty leaves are remarkably spinach-like in flavor and it is very heat tolerant.  A vine, it should be planted where it can climb. In fact, it is used very effectively in the agricultural display at the Epcot center. 

 

A tropical vine that grows throughout the Orient, malabar is very frost tender.  It requires a minimum daytime temperature of  59f (15°c) if it is to keep growing, though it tolerates night temperatures occasionally falling below 50F (10°c ) and low light levels.  A  well-drained moisture-retentive soil, rich in organic matter, and a warm, sunny, sheltered position are a required. Though it tolerates fairly poor soils, it does much better in a rich sandy loam, preferably with a PH in the range 4.3 to 7.  Malabar tolerates high rainfall.  It is fast growing.  Plants do not flower if the length of daylight is more than 13 hours per day.  Widely cultivated for its edible leaves in the tropics, there are some named varieties, but they can all be treated the same. 

Seeds can be sown in March or April in a warm greenhouse...68f (20°c), and they will germinate within 10 - 21 days.  Pre-soaking the seed for 24 hours in warm water shortens the germination time.  The plant can be put outside after the last expected frosts. Stem cuttings can be taken in the late summer, over wintered in a greenhouse, and then be planted out in late spring or early summer.

Malabar is extremely problem free except for one type of leaf spot, the same fungus that causes holes in beet leaves. In malabar, it leaves a red-rimmed hole about 1/4 inch in diameter.  Keep a sharp eye out for leaf spots, if you see any pick them off and remove  from the garden. To discourage the fungus, practice good garden sanitation and rotate your crops.  Hot weather favors the disease though the spores are able to over winter on leaves in the garden so remove old malabar  leaves!