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New Zealand Spinach
A sprawling, heat- and drought-proof summer green that never bolts - the plant Captain Cook's crew ate against scurvy. It is not spinach and not even a relative, and unlike spinach it should be blanched before you eat it.
Cook it - do not eat New Zealand spinach raw by the bowlful. The leaves are high in oxalates and mildly bitter raw, and the standard preparation everywhere it is eaten is a 1-3 minute blanch with the water thrown away, after which you use it exactly like spinach. That removes much of the oxalate and the bitterness. A raw leaf or two in a mixed salad will not hurt anyone; a raw salad made of it is a bad idea, and people prone to calcium-oxalate kidney stones should be especially careful.
Overview
The one thing to knowIt is not related to spinach at all - it belongs to the ice-plant family, Aizoaceae - and where true spinach bolts at the first hot week, this plant simply does not bolt.
New Zealand spinach is the answer to the summer gap. It is not related to spinach at all - it belongs to the ice-plant family, Aizoaceae - and where true spinach bolts at the first hot week, this plant simply does not bolt. It flowers quietly in the leaf axils without any loss of leaf quality and keeps producing tender tips from midsummer until frost, through heat, drought, salt spray and poor sandy soil that would finish most vegetables.
It grows as a low sprawling mat two to four feet across rather than an upright plant, with thick, triangular, dull-green leaves that have a faintly crystalline glitter to them. Cooked it is genuinely good - meatier and more substantial than spinach, and it holds its texture instead of collapsing to nothing.
Two things separate it from spinach in practice, and both matter. First, you blanch it: it is high in oxalates and mildly bitter raw, and the universal preparation is a one-to-three-minute boil with the water discarded before you cook with it. Second, it seeds itself relentlessly. The woody seed capsules drop into the soil and come up for years, and the plant has naturalized on stretches of the California, Gulf and Southeast coasts. Grow it on purpose, in a bed you control, and strip the capsules before they fall.
Quick facts
- Sprouts in
- 15 days10 to 28
- Soil to sprout
- 70 °F60 to 85
- Start indoors
- 4 weeks before transplant3 to 6
- Life cycle
- Perennial, grown as an annual
- Seed to save
- About 110 days after planting90 to 140
- Height
- 15 in8 to 24
- Spread
- 36 in24 to 48
- Cold
- Killed by frostdamaged below 32°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 100°F
- Self-sows
- Yes, expect volunteers
Full sun or part sun · low water · well-drained soil · 24 in apart (18 to 36) · direct sow or transplant
When to plant
Nothing is open today. Spring sowing opens 7 months, Apr 10 to May 15.
- Direct sow Apr 10 – May 15 Opens in 201 daysAbout at to 5 weeks after your last frost (Apr 10 here)Direct-sow soaked seed once the soil is above 60°F. One sowing carries you through the whole summer - there is no need for successions, because it does not bolt.
- Transplant Apr 17 – May 8 Opens in 208 daysAbout 7 days after to 4 weeks after your last frost (Apr 10 here)Set out after all frost, once the soil has warmed. Give each plant 18-24 inches - it will fill it.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
Five stages, about 9 weeks from sowing to the first pull. Windows are typical; your zone and weather move them.
Germination
Day 0 to 15 from sowing- DoSoak the seed 24 hours before sowingWhat you sow is not a seed but a hard woody fruit with several seeds inside it, and dry it can sit in the ground for a month. Soak it 24 hours in warm water (some growers nick it as well) and sow it about half an inch deep into warm soil. Expect 10-28 days and several seedlings emerging from one capsule.
- WaterKeep the seedbed moist and warmevery 2 daysIt germinates best in soil around 65-75°F and will not do much below 60°F. Keep the surface from drying out through the long germination window - patchy watering is the other common reason a row never comes up.
Watch for- A row that has done nothing for two weeks (normal - be patient)
- Several seedlings crowded together from one capsule
Seedling
Day 15 to 45 from sowing- ThinThin each clump to one strong plantA single capsule usually produces two or three seedlings in a knot. Snip out all but the strongest with scissors rather than pulling, which would disturb the one you are keeping. Final spacing is 18-24 inches - it looks absurdly generous now and will not in August.
- ProtectWatch slugs while the plants are smallevery 4 daysSlugs will shear off seedlings in a damp spring. Once the plant is a foot across and the leaves have thickened it is essentially untouchable, so the risk window is only these first few weeks.
Watch for- Slug damage on small plants
- Very slow growth until the weather truly warms (normal)
Spreading out
Day 45 to 65 from sowing- PrunePinch the tips once to force branchingPinch out the growing tips when the plant is about 8 inches across. It branches hard from every cut and turns into a low sprawling mat two to four feet wide - which is the productive shape you want.
- MulchMulch under the spreading stemsThe stems sprawl flat on the ground, so straw or leaf mulch underneath keeps the leaves clean, holds moisture and saves you washing grit out of every harvest.
Watch for- Neighbouring small plants being smothered as it spreads
- Leaves toughening in extreme drought
Harvest
Day 50 to 80 to the first pull from sowing, picking to about day 170- HarvestPick the top 3-4 inches of each shootevery 4 daysTake only the tender tips - the top three or four inches of new growth, leaves and soft stem together. Never strip a plant bare; each cut makes it branch again, and a well-picked plant produces more, not less, right through summer.
- WaterWater in a long drought for tender leavesevery 10 daysIt survives drought easily but the leaves turn small and tough. If you want tender growth in a hot dry spell, give it a deep soak every week or two - far less than spinach needs, and it repays it.
Watch for- Tough, small leaves (harvest tips only, water more)
- Seed capsules forming in the leaf axils
Flowering & seeding (it never bolts)
Day 85 to 200 from sowing- DoStrip the seed capsules unless you want volunteersevery 2 weeksTiny greenish-yellow flowers sit in the leaf axils and are easy to miss, and they harden into woody knobbly capsules. Unlike spinach, flowering does NOT ruin the leaves - keep harvesting. But those capsules are the self-sowing problem: strip and bin them through late summer if you do not want the plant to reappear across the bed and beyond it for years.
Watch for- Hard woody capsules dropping into the soil
- Volunteer seedlings the following spring
Harvest
- Plant has branched and is at least a foot across
- Three to four inches of soft new growth at the tips of the shoots
- Leaves thick, triangular and dull green, with a faintly glistening, crystalline surface
- About 55-70 days from sowing, and it keeps going until frost
- Pick the top 3-4 inches of each shoot · every 4 days
- Water in a long drought for tender leaves · every 10 days
Per plant 2 to 20 lbPicking cut and it regrows
Cook with New Zealand Spinach
Watch out for
3 to know. 1 is high-risk: Germination Failure (Hard Seed Capsule). None are active in September.
Germination Failure (Hard Seed Capsule)Severity High DisorderThe one thing to get right with this plant.
Soak the seed, wait for warm soil, and be patient - almost every reported failure of New Zealand spinach traces back to one of those three.
A sown row that shows nothing at two or three weeks while everything else in the garden is up. Very uneven emergence, with a few seedlings appearing weeks apart from the same sowing. Two or three seedlings coming up in a tight knot from a single capsule. Volunteer seedlings appearing in following seasons in ground where the crop grew, long after you assumed the seed was gone.
Do not give up on a row too early - wait the full four weeks before resowing, because late emergers are common. If nothing appears, resow with soaked seed into warmer soil rather than buying new seed; the seed was almost certainly viable. Thin the multiple seedlings from a single capsule to the strongest one with scissors rather than pulling them apart.
Soak the capsules in warm water for 24 hours before sowing, and nick or abrade the coat with a file or sandpaper if you want to be thorough. Sow about half an inch deep into soil that is genuinely above 60°F - a heat mat indoors, or simply waiting two more weeks outdoors, both work. Keep the seedbed evenly moist for the whole germination window rather than letting the surface dry between waterings. In short-season gardens, start soaked seed in pots and transplant, which removes the guesswork entirely.
By far the most common way this crop fails, and it fails before it starts. What is sold as a seed is a hard, corky, woody fruit capsule containing several true seeds, and it is built to survive months in seawater and sand. Sown dry into cool soil it may take six weeks to germinate or never germinate at all, and gardeners routinely conclude the seed was dead. It is not: it is waiting for water to penetrate the capsule and for warmth. The same toughness is why volunteers appear reliably years later from capsules that have been sitting in the ground.
Slugs & SnailsSeverity Medium PestPurely a seedling problem, and the strongest argument for raising this crop in pots and setting out sturdy plants.
Once the leaves thicken and the plant is spreading, slugs stop mattering entirely.
Irregular ragged holes chewed out of the middle of leaves and along the edges - not the clean-edged cuts a caterpillar leaves. Seedlings that vanish overnight, or that are cut off at soil level with nothing left behind. Silvery dried slime trails across leaves, soil, pots, and paving in the morning: this is the giveaway that tells you it was mollusks rather than an insect. Chewed pits in ripe fruit, especially where it rests on the ground. Damage that shows up on the lowest, dampest leaves first and gets worse after rain or evening watering. Turn over a board, an upturned pot, or a clump of dense mulch during the day and look for the animals themselves sheltering in the cool underneath.
Hand-picking works and costs nothing: go out an hour after dark with a headlamp, drop what you find into soapy water, and repeat nightly for a week or two - persistence is what wins, not any single product. Shallow beer traps sunk to soil level catch them too, but need emptying and refilling daily to be worth anything. Iron-phosphate bait is the standard control and is far lower-risk around pets and wildlife than the old metaldehyde products, but it is not harmless: many formulations include EDTA, and a dog that eats a quantity of pellets can develop iron toxicosis. Scatter it thinly per the label, never in piles, and keep dogs off a baited bed. Clear fallen foliage and debris in autumn, where the eggs are laid. In a wet climate this is a population you manage each season rather than one you eradicate - and on most established plants light grazing is cosmetic and needs nothing at all.
Take away the daytime shelter first: lift boards and upturned pots, clear piles of debris, keep dense mulch pulled back from crowns and stems, and give crowded plantings enough airflow to dry out. Water in the morning rather than the evening so the surface is dry by the time they come out. Copper tape around containers and raised beds gives them a shock they will not cross, and it is the one barrier that reliably works. Get plants past the vulnerable stage quickly - start seedlings in pots and set them out at a decent size rather than direct-sowing into a cold wet bed, since most plants stop being worth defending once the leaves toughen. Leave the ground beetles, frogs, toads, and ground-feeding birds alone, because they eat mollusks all night for free and broad-spectrum slug pellets kill them too. Where thick-leaved or resistant varieties exist for what you are growing, they take far less damage.
Slugs and snails are nocturnal mollusks that rasp ragged holes in soft leaves, shear off seedlings at ground level, and chew into ripe fruit that touches the soil. They feed at night and in the early morning and spend the day hidden under boards, pots, dense mulch, leaf litter, and low foliage, becoming active in exactly the cool, damp, shaded conditions that suit young plants. Damage is heaviest in wet spells and on tender spring growth: a single wet week can erase a row of seedlings while an established, tough-leaved plant of the same species is barely marked. They lay clusters of small pearly eggs in damp soil and under debris, so a garden with plenty of cover carries a resident population year after year rather than being invaded from outside.
AphidsSeverity Low PestOccasional colonies on the soft shoot tips, which is the part you harvest anyway - cut those tips, wash them well, and the plant pushes clean growth within days.
Rarely worth any other intervention.
Dense clusters of tiny insects packed onto shoot tips, flower buds, and the undersides of young leaves. Curled, cupped, or distorted new growth that never opens properly. A sticky shine on the leaves - and on whatever sits under the plant - that later goes black with sooty mold. Tiny white cast skins left behind where a colony has been feeding. Ants running steadily up and down the stems, which is often the first thing you notice. Mottled, streaked, or misshapen leaves that do not grow out can mean a virus the aphids brought with them rather than the feeding itself.
Knock the colonies off with a hard jet of water and repeat every few days - on most plants that alone ends it. Pinch out or prune off the worst-infested tips rather than treating the whole plant. If colonies keep rebuilding, spray insecticidal soap or horticultural oil directly onto the insects, covering leaf undersides, and repeat weekly until they are gone; treat early or late in the day, and never spray a wilted or heat-stressed plant. Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides - they kill the ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps that were about to solve the problem for you, and aphid numbers usually come back worse afterward. Anything you spray must be labeled for the plant you are treating; follow that label and observe its pre-harvest interval. On anything you eat, wash leaves, heads, and buds well before use, since aphids hide down in crowns, folds, and tight growth.
Go easy on nitrogen: the soft, lush growth that heavy feeding produces is exactly what aphids breed on. Check new growth once a week through spring and early summer so you catch colonies while they are still small, and rub the first few out with your fingers. Leave flowering plants nearby and skip broad-spectrum sprays - ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps do most of this work for free, and they only stay if there is something for them to eat. Keep ants off the plant where you can, since they protect aphids from those predators. Water steadily so plants are not stressed, and check any new plant over before you bring it home or move it indoors, since aphids usually arrive on something else.
Aphids are small soft-bodied sap-suckers - green, black, gray, pink, or waxy white, and mostly wingless - that gather in dense colonies on the tenderest new growth: shoot tips, buds, and the undersides of young leaves. They breed extremely fast in mild weather, so a few can become hundreds inside a week. Their feeding curls and distorts soft growth, and the sticky honeydew they excrete coats everything below and turns black with sooty mold. Ants often farm and defend the colonies for that honeydew. A few aphids are normal on almost any plant and a healthy plant shrugs them off; only dense, persistent colonies do real damage, and some aphids also spread plant viruses as they feed.
Good & bad neighbors
Plant nearby
- Traditional pairings, thin evidence
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The sprawling mat makes a living mulch under tall corn, shading the soil and holding moisture while taking almost nothing from above.
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Two crops built for the same brutal midsummer conditions; okra stands tall and New Zealand spinach fills the ground between.
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Works well underneath staked or caged tomatoes - it covers the bare ground, both crops want the same heat, and neither shades the other out.
Keep apart
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Not chemistry, geometry - a mature plant sprawls two to four feet flat across the bed and will simply grow over lettuce and other small salad greens. Keep low crops out of its reach.
- Traditional pairings, thin evidence
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Same problem in reverse and a scheduling mismatch: true spinach wants the cool ends of the season and the ground this plant is about to cover. Grow them in sequence rather than side by side.
Grower tips
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