Malabar spinach
Basella alba
In a typical UK garden, sow indoors early March to mid-April, sow outside mid-May to mid-June, plant out early May to early June, and harvest late June to late October.
When to sow, plant and harvest
Last frost around 20 April, first frost around 31 October.
- Sow indoors
- early March to mid-April
- Sow outdoors
- mid-May to mid-June
- Plant out
- early May to early June
- Harvest
- late June to late October
Growing facts
- Spacing
- 30 cm apart, rows 90 cm apart
- Square foot
- 1 per square (30 cm squares)
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- Ready in
- 35 to 55 days from planting out
- Grows to
- 2 m
- Hardiness
- Tender: killed by any frost
- Sun
- Full sun
- Crops for
- About 10 weeks
Growing tip
Give it your warmest spot and a trellis; it barely grows below about 15 °C but romps away in a hot summer.
More leafy greens
Where these figures come from
Every crop in VegLog was checked against published growing advice. Dates are worked out from average frost dates, so they shift with your garden. For malabar spinach, we used:
Grow malabar spinach with VegLog
Add malabar spinach to a bed and VegLog reminds you when to sow, plant out and pick, timed to your own town's frost dates.
