(Basella alba 'Rubra')
Red Malabar spinach is a warm weather tender perennial ornamental leaf vegetable that is native to India and tropical Asia but is commonly found growing in gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, the vines of this plant reaches the length of 10' or longer, and features pink veined burgundy stems, thick glossy dark green heart-shaped leaves, white/pink elongated, jellybean shaped flowers, and
deep-purple to black berries. This plant can be grown in a container or hanging basket, is used to make dye, and is both edible and medicinal!
Genus: Basella
Species: alba
Variety: Rubra
Also Known As: Red-stemmed Malabar spinach, Phool leaf, Red-vine spinach, Climbing spinach, Asian spinach, and Buffalo spinach.
Native to: Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam
Introduced to: Alabama, Andaman Is., Angola, Belize, Benin, Brazil Southeast, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Repu, Chad, China Southeast, Christmas I., Colombia, Congo, Cook Is., Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Fiji, Florida, Gilbert Is., Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Hainan, Haiti, Hawaii, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Leeward Is., Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Senegal, Society Is., South China Sea, Southwest Caribbean, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Windward Is., Zambia, Zaïre
Ease of Growing: Moderate
Grown as: Annual, tender perennial
Days to Maturity: 70 days
Growth Habit: Vine
Hardiness: Half hardy. Extremely frost-sensitive.
Crops: Summer to fall
Growing Season: Short
Growing Conditions: thrives in hot temps, even exceeding 90 F. (32 C.) Cool temperatures cause Malabar spinach to creep. It is grown as an annual, but grows like a perennial in regions that are frost free.
Outdoor Growing Temp: 60 – 75°F
Min Outdoor Soil Temp: 45°F. Spinach germinates well at low temperatures.
Start Indoors: Yes
Start Outdoors: Yes
Light: Part shade increases leaf size, but prefers full sun. 6-8 hours of sunlight each day. Under dry conditions or the short days of later summer, flowers will form, which ends the edible stage and begins its role as a handsome decorative vine, dripping with pink flowers and purple pearl-like berries.
Water: Moderate. Requires consistent moisture to prevent flowering and maintain quality.
Feeder: Moderate. Incorporate 2" of compost and a slow release balanced organic fertilizer.
Suitability: Heat tolerant, tolerates high rainfall
Small Gardens?: Yes
Containers?: Yes.
Attracts beneficial insects?: No
Vine Length: 10' as annual (longer if grown as a perennial)
Spacing: 1'
Sow Depth: 1/4"
Produces: pink veined burgundy stems, thick glossy dark green heart-shaped leaves, white/pink elongated, jellybean shaped flowers, and deep-purple to black berries.
Hardiness Zone: 3-8 Annual
9-12 Perennial
Garden Uses: Vegetable/Ornamental. Containers. Hanging Baskets. Screen/Privacy. Accent.
Soil Preparation
Soil pH: 5.5 to 8.0. Prefers 6.5-6.8.
Soil Preparation:
Standard Mix, 5 pounds per 100 sq. ft., in top 6" of soil, 1 time: A standard mix will supply additional nutrients. Incorporate it into the top 6˝ of soil along with the compost. This is a mix of various amendments intended to supply all of the nutrients plants may require. It is usually incorporated into the soil prior to planting. The mix consists of:
- 4 parts cottonseed meal (this is high in nitrogen and relatively inexpensive)
- 2 parts colloidal phosphate or bone meal (for phosphorus)
- 2 parts wood ash or 3 parts greensand or granite dust (for potassium)
- 1 part dolomitic limestone (to balance pH and add calcium and magnesium)
- 1 part kelp meal (for trace elements)
Mix these together thoroughly. You can do this all at once, or you can store them separately and mix as needed.
Compost (Nitrogen), 2" in top 6" of soil, 1 time: Spinach likes organic matter, so incorporate 2˝ of compost or aged manure into the top 6˝ of soil (where most feeder roots are found). Spinach loves manure and will even thrive in soil containing fresh manure (though ideally this should be incorporated into the soil the previous autumn).
Start Indoors
1) Fill a pot to within ¼ to ½ inch of the rim with moist seed starting medium.
2) Firm the surface with the back of your fingers, then poke a hole to the depth of 1/4" in the center of your pot and sow two scarified seeds.
3) Sprinkle a little additional medium over seeds and add a label with the plant name and date.
4) Cover the finished pots with plastic and set them in a warm bright place or under lights.
Germination Time: 10 days to 3 weeks
Germination Temperature: 65-75 F.
Depth: 1/4"
5) Seedlings are ready to be transplanted into a larger pot when the first pair of true leaves has developed.
6) Tip out the potful of seedling and soil and tease out the seedlings with a pencil.
7) Holding each seedling by a leaf (not the stem), plant it into an individual pot.
Transplanting Outdoors
After frost, when nighttime temperatures remain above 60°F.
How:
Transplant your seedlings into the garden once the soil has warmed. Malabar spinach prefers a location that offers full sun and a moist fertile soil with plenty of organic matter and a soil pH of between 6.5 and 6.8. Dig your holes as deep as the pots you are transplanting from and keep a spacing of 1 foot between seedlings. Plants will not grow much until the heat of summer and night temperatures are consistently below 60°F.
Starting Outdoors
Direct sow Malabar spinach seeds in USDA zone 7 or warmer, two to three weeks after the last frost date.
How:
Malabar spinach prefers a location that offers full sun and moist fertile soil with plenty of organic matter and a soil pH of between 6.5 and 6.8. Scatter your scarified seeds evenly over the medium and cover with ¼ inch of medium followed by a ¼ inch layer of fine washed gravel and add a label with the plant name and date. Malabar spinach plants can be grown in part shade, which increases the leaf size, but it much prefers hot, humid and full sun exposures.
Support: Yes. Malabar Spinach can be allowed to ramble or climb other vegetation, they are best grown on a sturdy trellis when grown as a vegetable.
Harvesting
Storage
Sun Drying:
Simply leave the berries on the vine to sundry. Wait to pick until you see shriveled berries, but don’t wait too long as they can start to fall on the ground.
The berries should be completely dry, but if there’s some moisture, you may want to dry them further with a towel or leave them on a plate for a short time.
Manual Drying:
If you don’t want to wait for the sun to dry your Malabar spinach seeds, you can pick the berries when they are ripe and dry them using a few methods.
One way of drying them is to press them into a strainer, submerged in soap and water, and scrub to separate the seed from the berry. Once this is done, wash with water and place the seeds on a plate to dry.
If the seeds aren’t completely dry after this, you could continue to let them dry in a dishtowel. After about eight hours they should be dried and ready to be stored.
Seed Viability in Years: 2-4 years
Culinary
Leaves and stem tips: raw or cooked. A pleasant mild spinach flavor, the leaves can be used as a spinach or added to salads. Younger leaves and stems are the most palatable. The older foliage has more high fiber mucilage, the same thing that gives okra its slimy character. The mucilaginous qualities of the plant make it an excellent thickening agent in soups, stews etc where it can be used as a substitute for okra, An infusion of the leaves is a tea substitute. The leaves can be eaten throughout the season, but once plants start flowering, the leaves become bitter.
Berries: The purplish sap from the berries is used as a food coloring in pastries, whip cream, yogury, and sweets. The color is enhanced by adding some lemon juice.
Medicinal
Companion Planting
Problems
Nutrition
Health Benefits
Basella is very low in calories and fats (100 grams of raw leaves provide just 19 calories). Nonetheless, it holds an incredibly good amount of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Fresh leaves, particularly of Basella-rubra, are rich sources of vital carotenoid pigment anti-oxidants such as ß-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin. Together, these compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes.
Its thick, fleshy leaves are an excellent source of non-starch polysaccharides, mucilage. In addition to natural fiber (roughage) found in the stem and leaves, its mucilaginous leaves facilitate easy digestion of food. The fiber diet brings a reduction in cholesterol absorption and helps prevent bowel problems.
Vine spinach leaves and stem are incredibly rich sources of vitamin A. 100 g fresh leaves provide 8000 IU or 267% of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of this vitamin. Vitamin-A required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin, and essential for good eyesight. Consumption of natural vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin-A and flavonoids has been thought to offer protection from lung and oral cavity cancers.
Basella has more vitamin C content than English spinach. 100 g of fresh greens contains 102 mg or 102% of daily recommended levels of vitamin-C. Vitamin-C is a powerful antioxidant, which helps the human body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.
Likewise in spinach, basella too is an excellent source of iron. 100 g fresh leaves contain about 1.20 mg or 15% of the daily intake of iron. Iron is an essential trace element required by the human body for red blood cell (RBC) production. Additionally, this element acts as a co-factor for the oxidation-reduction enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, during cellular metabolism.
It also contains good amounts of many B-complex vitamins such as folate, vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), and riboflavin. 100 g fresh leaves provide 140 µg or 35% of folates. This vitamin is one of the essential compounds for DNA synthesis and growth. Folate deficiency during the very early stages of pregnancy might results in neural tube defects in the newborn baby. Anticipating and pregnant women are, therefore, advised to include a lot of fresh greens in their diet to help prevent neural tube defects in the offspring.
Further, basella leaves are good sources of minerals like potassium (11% of RDA/100 g), manganese (32% of RDA/100 g), calcium, magnesium, and copper. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese and copper used by the human body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase.
Suggested Varieties
(Ocimum basilicum 'Cinnamon')
Cinnamon Basil is an annual herb native to India and Asia but grows in gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches 18-30” tall and features dark purple stems, narrow, dark green, slightly serrated leaves, and small pink flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees and butterflies, is rabbit safe, repels flies, mosquitoes, and thrips, is resistant to deer, is used to make essential oils, liquid plant food, and mosquito repellent, self-sows, is both edible and medicinal, and is used as a cut flower!
(Ocimum basilicum ‘Purple Ruffles’)
Purple Ruffles Basil is a native annual herb that grows in gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches 18-24” tall and features ruffled, dark purple leaves, maroon stems, and spikes of bright fuchsia flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees and butterflies, is rabbit safe, repels flies, mosquitoes, and thrips, is resistant to deer, is used to make essential oils and mosquito repellent, is edible and medicinal, and is used as a cut flower!
(Beta vulgaris 'Cylindra')
Cylindra Beet is a heirloom, semi-hardy cool weather annual/biennial vegetable native to Denmark believed to be developed in 1888. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 6-12” and features a 6-7" long, dark red, carrot-shaped beets with red-veined tops. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts earwigs, is horse and rabbit safe, tolerates light frost, and is both edible and medicinal!
(Beta vulgaris 'Detroit Dark Red')
Detroit Dark Red Beet is a heirloom, semi-hardy cool weather annual/biennial vegetable that is native to Canada, where it was developed by a Mr. Reeves in Ontario and introduced by D.M. Ferry & Company in 1892. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 12-18” and features a 3" uniformly dark red, round beets with red stemmed, dark green tops. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts earwigs, is horse and rabbit safe, tolerates light frost, and is both edible and medicinal!
(Beta vulgaris 'Golden Detroit')
Golden Detroit Beet is a heirloom, semi-hardy cool weather annual/biennial vegetable that is native to Europe and western Asia, but can be commonly found growing in gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 9-12” and features a 1-3” oval shaped orange-yellow roots with Light green tops. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts earwigs, is horse and rabbit safe, tolerates light frost, and is both edible and medicinal!
(Beta vulgaris 'Flamingo')
Flamingo Swiss Chard is a heirloom, semi hardy, cool weather biennial vegetable that is native to the Mediterranean region, but can be found growing in gardens throughout the United States since 1857. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 16” and features chard with bright pink stalks and crumpled dark green leaves. This plant can be grown in a container, is horse and rabbit safe, tolerates drought and light frost, and is both edible and medicinal!
(Beta vulgaris 'Large White Ribbed')
Large White Ribbed Swiss Chard is a heirloom, semi hardy, cool weather biennial vegetable that is native to the Mediterranean region, but can be found growing in gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 15-22” and features chard with thick white stalks and medium green, crumpled leaves. This plant can be grown in a container, is horse and rabbit safe, tolerates drought and light frost, and is both edible and medicinal!
(Beta vulgaris 'Ruby Red')
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Ruby Red Swiss Chard is a heirloom, semi hardy, cool weather biennial vegetable that is native to the Mediterranean region, but can be found growing in gardens throughout the United States since 1857. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 15-20” and features chard with bright red stalks and crumpled dark green leaves. This plant can be grown in a container, is horse and rabbit safe, tolerates drought and light frost, and is both edible and medicinal!
(Coleus scutellarioides ‘Rainbow Mix’)
Rainbow Coleus Mix is a shade-loving, tender, warm-weathered perennial flower native to southeast Asia but grows in many homes and gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 12” and features a range of dazzling white, cream, pink, red, yellow, green, and purple-colored leaves! This plant can be grown in containers, has attractive foliage that is a great addition to cut flowers, attracts bees and hummingbirds, and can be grown in a container!
(Zinnia elegans ‘Luminosa’)
Luminosa Zinnia is an annual flower native to Mexico but grows in the southern and eastern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 2-3' and features hairy upright branching stems, 5” lance-shaped green leaves, and 4-5” bright pink dahlia-type flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, earwigs, and hummingbirds, is resistant to deer, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!
(Zinnia elegans ‘Exquisite’)
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Exquisite Zinnia is an annual flower native to Mexico but grows in the southern and eastern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 2-3' and features hairy upright branching stems, 5” lance-shaped green leaves, and 4-5” bright red dahlia-type flowers that fade to soft rose pink. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, earwigs, and hummingbirds, is resistant to deer, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!
(Zinnia elegans ‘Cherry Queen’)
Cherry Queen Zinnia is an annual flower native to Mexico but grows in the southern and eastern United States. At maturity, this plant can reach a height of 2-3' and features hairy upright branching stems, 5” lance-shaped green leaves, and 4-5” bright red dahlia-type flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, earwigs, and hummingbirds, is resistant to deer, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!