Red spinach is packed full of vitamins and is a major go-to in the kitchen (its proper name is amaranthus dubius).
Red spinach can be purchased at your local grocery store, but growing red spinach yourself is much more satisfying than going to get it.
There is no need for a green thumb and no starter kit needed to grow red spinach! You can grow it from seed or from a baby plant with a little effort.
In This Guide – We will provide you with all the information you need to know to grow red spinach and reap the benefits of all the delicious nutrients in it.
What Is Red Spinach?
Red spinach, strangely enough, is not just in the red variety but also green varieties of amaranthus dubious.
This plants have long branching stems that grow erect and have short hairs. The leaves are arranged in a spiral.
In some regions, especially in the tropics, the flower will occur.
The flower may also occur in sub-tropical regions in the right conditions.
Red spinach can often be found in the wild growing in wastelands and where there has been little disturbance.
Beyond being a great source of food, red spinach is also reported to have medicinal properties.
Let’s Hear About The Benefits
One primary reason so many people are excited to add red spinach to their diet – it’s loaded with nutrients.
These leaves are excellent in providing relief for problems like constipation and fever. They are high in iron and great for someone who is anemic.
In addition, red spinach and other leafy vegetables are said to be good for breastfeeding mothers.
Red spinach is not just good for its leaves. It’s also full of fiber and protein.
It’s not just the leaves that are edible. The seeds are also good for humans to eat. However, they are difficult to eat so they are often transformed into a powder.
This powder has a lot of antioxidants – which is excellent for clearing out toxins from the body!
In Addition To This – red spinach is likely an anti-inflammatory. It has been suggested that can decrease inflammation and help protect from injury.
If you’re interested in preparing red spinach, you might be glad to hear it would be an easy task.
The leaves are quick to prepare in under ten minutes – which is appealing for a quick diner.
How To Grow Red Spinach
Most people will grow red spinach from seed and this isn’t difficult to do as long as you stick to the following steps.
- To start off, you want to soak the seeds in compost tea, which will help to speed germination time. If you can, you’ll want to have the seeds soak for about thirty minutes before planting.
- Then, take humus-rich soil and spread it over topsoil exposure in your garden. You can also plant the spinach in pots if you have preference in that; but spinach is pretty hardy, as a seed it will be fine in the ground.
- Use a shovel to work the soil in to the top eight inches of your garden area.
- You probably want to plant the seeds in February on average, because plants like this cool weather if they are going to succeed.
- You need a pencil or a chopstick to put in the soil down about a half an inch. This will become your holds for the seeds; you want to leave at least a one inch gap between holes, but make one hole for each seed.
- When you are ready, put each seed in its hole, and then cover it with soil.
- You will want to make certain you provide plenty of water for the seeds, but instead of dumping this on them with a watering can, I would recommend using a mister so that the seeds can be hydrated, but not move.
Soil
It is important to select a high-quality soil to blend with your topsoil.
You want soil that is full of organic matter and you need to ensure it is well draining.
If growing in a pot then it is suggested to mix potting soil with coco peat and vermiculite compost.
Light
When raising your red spinach plants, you will need to make sure they receive plenty of direct sunlight every day.
These plants do not like the shade so plant them in a place where they will get six to eight hours of full sunlight every day.
Temperature
Red spinach plant is quite durable so you won’t have to worry too much about temperature.
However, if you want it to really grow well, plant in a place that is around 64 degrees Fahrenheit to 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
That said, red spinach plant can do quite reasonably well where temperatures exceed both of those numbers with 44 degrees Fahrenheit being the lowest it can realistically take and 96 degrees Fahrenheit the highest.
Watering
As we mentioned previously, make sure you will need to give your red spinach appropriate well draining soil.
A proper flow/exchange of water that will not clog up in the soil will ensure that the roots won’t drown out. When your seeds and plants have taken root and established, you will not need to water your plants with as much frequency.
In general – You will want to make sure you are checking the soil on the regular basis and only watering when the dirt on the top layer has dried out.
This will prevent root rot. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
Feeding
Caring for red spinach is quite simple, especially as it relates to fertilizing your plants.
In fact, you’ll only need to add fertilizer one or two times during the growing season.
Just ensure that the ingredients are balanced, and follow the directions on the packaging.
Diseases And Pests
One of the wonderful characteristics associated with red spinach is that it (likely) doesn’t experience significant disease issues.
That said, the plant is vulnerable to attacks from:
- mealybugs
- aphids
- and mites
If you’re eating the plants, you probably want to avoid chemicals as even with careful washing there may be some residual chemicals left over.
Naturally, I would suggest mechanically controlling the pests by: blasting the plant with a hose or taking the pests off by hand.
Although this is considerably slower it is by far much more precise, and one would feel perfectly fine eating the plant once you have removed the pests.
Harvesting Your Red Spinach
As we have discussed, caring for red spinach is generally easy.
And the harvest doesn’t get much harder than that either. You will most likely be harvesting only the leaves and all you have to do is pick them from the plant.
You can enjoy them while they are young in salads.
If you are harvesting older leaves, they are often better when cooked anyhow and offer a nice change from other spinach varieties.
Even Better – What is even more rewarding is that you won’t have to wait a long time to harvest your plants. It can take as little as 20-30 days from the time you plant the seed to the time the leaves are ready to be harvested.
If you want to harvest the seed to plant, you typically have to wait about 3 months from the time you originally planted.
This brings you to mid to late summer depending on the climate in your area.
You can tell the seed is ready when you see the seeds falling from the flowers.
If you give the flower head a gentle shake and the seeds fall out, then you are ready to harvest them.
What About Malabar Spinach?
It is important to note that many people mistake red spinach for its Indian cousin, malabar spinach.
These crops will prefer to grow in moist lowlands and do much better in warm weather.
The leaves do indeed have the dark green color of spinach, but the stems are a delightful red wine color.
Although red spinach and many other spinach varieties will tolerate cooler temperature, malabar spinach does not.
Malabar spinach especially will not tolerate frost.
However, if you are in the appropriate area of the USA and you can create the correct conditions, you may be able to grow malabar spinach.
Malabar spinach prefers a soil pH between 6.5 and 6.8, and prefers part sun.
Since malabar is a vining plant, you will want to create a trellis to grow it vertically, using two plants at a time.
Conclusion
Red spinach is incredibly easy to grow and makes for a great beginners edible plant!
You will want to plant the seeds well before spring as they prefer a bit of cool weather during germination.
Be sure to keep your red spinach watered, along with a relatively balanced feeding regime to ensure consistent growth.
If you care for your red spinach properly, you will be able to start harvesting leaves as soon as 20 to 30 days after planting!