As promised, I’ll be talking about Basella alba, or Malabar spinach. I grew this guy for the first time last year. I had known about it for some time but kept putting off growing it, despite what a promising addition to my garden it seemed to be. You see, I usually get a little bummed over the fact that my garden has no coloring to speak of. Everything is frikkin’ green. So I’ve been trying to break up the monotony by planting things with a little color to them. Or at least plants with colorful flowers or fruit. Malabar spinach fits these qualifications nicely. In fact, it’s often grown as an ornamental. It’s red stems, white flowers, and dark purple berries make quite a statement.

  The best thing for me, is this plant’s incredible heat tolerance. There’s a summer gardening lull in southern Louisiana where not much wants to grow besides okra and cowpeas. I’ve found Malabar spinach to take the oppressive summers as good or better than the best of ‘em. Certainly better than I do. It’s also practically immune to disease and pests. In fact, I can’t recall seeing a leaf look even moderately unhealthy.

  It’s a vine, by the way, and a long one at that so you need some type of trellis. I personally like a cattle panel cut a little more than half way and bent over (see pic). It’s a little pricey, but it comes out looking relatively attractive and is strong.

 The seeds start easily, and can probably be direct sown, but I like to start mine in pots so I have more control over moisture. They’re a little slow to get going- I transplant mine when they’re only about five inches tall into heavy mulch. I’ve had a few transplants mysteriously disappear by what I’m assuming were cutworms (okay, so I lied about no pests). If you have problems with them in your area I’d put some kind of collar around the plant.

 There are two major drawbacks to growing Malabar spinach.

• First- It’s a wee bit difficult to harvest. No, difficult’s the wrong word. It’s just plain boring and takes forever. Especially after flowering when the leaves seem to all magically shrink. The best way to do it, is just clip the top six inches on every vine. The tender stems can be eaten as well. In fact, if you stay on top of it, you won’t need a trellis since you can form a bush by keeping it only a foot or so tall. Just pick off the stems once they reach six inches longer than your determined bush size. Otherwise, you’ll be picking one leaf at a time which would try the patience of the Dahlia Lama.
• Second- All the books and articles you read on this plant will no doubt refer to it as mucilaginous. I rather doubt that this is a real word, but it’s definitely caught on in reference to malabar spinach. I call it “slimy”. Slimy merely sounds unappetizing. “Mucilaginous” sounds disgusting and is harder to spell. But however you name it, it is slimy, and there’s really nothing you can do to make it go away. 

  Which has led me to an interesting observation. Everyone I have let taste this plant has either loved it or hated it. No middle ground. As for me, I hated it, but found that it really is an acquired taste. After forcing it down a few times (I couldn’t let it go to waste, now could I?) I grew to like it, and now I’ll eat it just as readily as any other greens. My cousin on the other hand, loved it the first time and kept going back for refills.

  All in all. It’s a great, reliable source of summer greens. One of the few, so beggars can be choosy.

  By the way…this isn’t the first plant I’ve come across with Malabar in the title. What the hey is a Malabar?

 Hey, hope ya’ll are liking the blog. Here’s a few plants I’ll be profiling in the near future- so keep checking back! I also intend to start writing entries on different biological gardening methods I use and the ecology of gardening.

• Cassabanana
• Cinnamon VIne
• Achira
• Jerusalem Artichoke
• Pyrethrium
• Fragrant Spring Tree
• Kiwano

Much love,

mrtumnas