Okinawa Spinach Growing Information

This tasty vegetable grows very easily in the Bellingen Valley. It is a little cold sensitive. Protect from frosts.  Share cuttings with friends.
Green Harvest has plants.


From the Green Harvest catalogue 

© Frances Michaels

BOTANICAL NAME:Gynura crepioides
COMMON NAMES: Okinawa spinach, Hong tsoi, Okinawa lettuce
FAMILY: Asteraceae
ORIGIN: Native to Indonesia

PLANT DESCRIPTION
Okinawa Spinach is a dense, low growing plant to 70 cm high. Easily the most low maintenance perennial leaf vegetable; it is a hardy plant and relatively pest-free. Thriving in warm, wet conditions Okinawa Spinach does best in subtropical and tropical areas; it is sensitive to frost. An attractive plant with shiny leaves that are green on top and purple underneath; the flowers are very small and orange. It grows best in full sun to partial shade. It needs ample water, rich, fertile well-drained soil that is kept mulched and prefers a pH of between 6.1 and 6.5.

USES

• Food: It is a very nutritious vegetable, eaten raw or cooked. The leaves and young shoot tips are steamed, used in stir fry, tempura, stews, and soups. Try not to overcook it as it can become slimy. The leaves have a crisp, nutty taste with a faint hint of pine. In Okinawa the leaves are often fried and served as tempura. It can also be steamed with rice if it is added for the last 7 minutes of cooking time. This leafy green is also known as cholesterol spinach, and there are many claims that it lowers cholesterol. Young leaves have a much better flavour than the older leaves.
• Edible Landscaping: The vivid leaf colour makes this a good choice as a background plant in ornamental beds. Okinawa Spinach can be used in landscaping as a groundcover in full sun (with enough water) or it does well in partial shade. It is very adaptable to container gardening and hanging baskets and will grow inside on a windowsill with good light.

PLANTING DETAILS

• Recommended Planting Time: Cuttings are best taken when the soil temperature is at least 25°C. Rooting the cutting in water before planting will improve results. The plant responds well to pruning, rapidly becoming bushy. Pruning also prolongs its life.
• Planting Depth: Cuttings 10 - 20 cm long should be half buried in potting mix and kept moist.
• Spacing: Space plants at 60 cm apart.

Recipes from The Edible Plant Project :

Okinawa Spinach
Okinawa Spinach with Rice & Mango
Okinawa Spinach & Grits

Download. Buy. The 3-book series "Lost Crops of Africa"

The 3-book series "Lost Crops of Africa" (Volumes I, II and III on Grains, Vegetables, and Fruits, published in 1996, 2006 and 2008, respectively) is a treasure for us all, but especially for the African continent, with the hope it presents of growing food security for its 1 billion people!

Deb's new sustainable garden at Brierfield

Seen from below, Deb's new house is located in a bush fire 'flame' categorised area and thus requires  flame shutters and concrete decks. Her vegetable garden is located on top of the hill. Natives are planted below the house.

Deb (in the pink hat) and her partner have invested in terrace walls below the house.

A constructed pond serves for Deb's treasured fish and also as a mandatory emergency fire fighting resource.

Stock water troughs have been adapted with planted Lomandra grass to filter sewerage overflow.

The vegetable beds are located at the top of the hill.

An Acerola cherry has fruited well under its netting.

Comfrey flourishes with edible marigold flowers in the foreground.

A Zucchini is still producing.

 

A yellow Eggplant loves its sunny position.

 

Gillian's Garden in Fernmount

"The focus of this garden is on the panoramic view, fruit & vegetables for domestic use, and keeping the rest as low maintenance and bird friendly as possible.

There's approximately five acres of sloping land with a number of different soil types and microclimates.  This young garden is typical of many in the area and represents an exciting clean slate. 

Over the last three years we concentrated on the basics - removing lantana, retaining large native trees, and clearing shrub close to the house.  Young fruit trees have been planted, a wallaby proof vegetable patch created, and a dam culvert installed."

When Gillian mentioned 'sloping land' and 'panoramic view' we should have known we were in for a double-edged treat. Sloping is an understatement (that photo is looking straight DOWN from the balcony) and panoramic doesn't do the view justice!!
About 20 seed savers, many regulars and some new faces, enjoyed a shared lunch and the stunning scenery before we set off to hobble and slide down the slope and puff our way back up. Along the way we were treated to a guided tour of regeneration work done and baby fruit trees planted (labelled AND dated).
There's a huge amount of work done on this young garden, and more planned on a fitness inducing block. Great work. Thanks for having us over Gillian!  

Fi

Russian dacha vegetable gardens

"If you were to visit a typical Russian dacha you're likely to be greeted with a welcoming dish called okroshka (below centre), a refreshing cold soup made from home grown cucumber, radish, spring onion, fresh dill and parsley all swimming in kvas (a home made rye bread drink) with sour cream or kefir."
Read the article:

In 2011 the dacha gardens of Russia produced 40% of the nation's food.

Subtropical Vegetables that suit our summer climate

Here are some links to resources. There are plenty of 'greens' that grow well in our Subtropical

Sweet Leaf

Climate.

Garden Drum

Beating a New Path

"Living on a property in the subtropics where I rely totally on rainwater and natural rainfall for watering, I love growing vegetables and at times have been virtually self sufficient, as well as giving excess to friends. However, I am often in full production over the summer and autumn months when it is hot, wet and humid and this is not the time to grow traditional northern European crops."

Florida's faux spinach

The real thing is tough to cultivate here. But plenty of easy-to-grow plants provide us with tasty leaves for a salad or stir-fry.

Green Harvest Nursery

Okinawa Spinach
Gynura crepioides

Syn Hong tsoi, Okinawa lettuce
Okinawa spinach is a dense, low growing plant to 70 cm high. Easily the most low maintenance perennial leaf vegetable; it is a hardy plant and relatively pest-free. Thriving in warm, wet conditions Okinawa spinach does best in subtropical and tropical areas; it is sensitive to frost. An attractive plant with shiny leaves that are green on top and purple underneath; the flowers are very small and orange. It grows best in full sun to partial shade. It needs ample water, rich, fertile well-drained soil that is kept mulched and prefers a pH of between 6.1 and 6.5. More info on growing Okinawa Spinach...

Philippine spinach - Surinam Purslane - Talinum fruticosum - Potherb Fameflower

Surinam Spinach is best protected from cold during the Bellingen Winters, however, Okinawa Spinach is a little hardier.

 

Growing Mustard greens, also gai choy

 Mustard Greens are quite mild when cooked. The juicy stems can be cooked and the leaf discarded.

Growing NZ Spinach, also Warrigal Greens

Always cook leaves off mature plants to remove oxalic acid. Discard the water. 

 

Gardening Australia

Fact Sheet: Subtropical Spring Vegies

 

Earthwise Gardening

Brazilian spinach – a leafy green vegetable for the subtropics

 

Three productive vegetable gardens in Bundagen, 22 May 2014

Almost thirty people enjoyed a brilliant afternoon at Bundagen in May.

We gathered at the entrance to Bundagen so that we could drive in convoy to the three gardens that we had been invited to visit.

One of our hosts, Shunyam, made us very welcome to her  beautiful garden

The solar drier well-placed for maximum sun

The young coconut palm aroused a lot of interest 

Methods of protecting our plants are always of great interest to our group
and we were impressed by those we saw at Bundagen

The intriguing Buddha's Hand

Shankari explains her market garden

A visit to a Dorrigo farm: vegetables and poultry

Following a very successful plant-fair stall the previous week, Bellingen Seedsavers made a garden visit to Jodi and Michael's farm. This provided a fascinating look at how annual and perennial vegetables are grown in small market garden quantities.

We all found this mother duck fascinating.

The Dorrigo garden viewed from the road

Chicken tractors are used to prepare the garden beds.

A bank of green manure, salvias and comfrey.

Two slow clicks will enlarge each photo.

Narrow pathways and edging save valuable space.

A recycled timber pergola makes a perfect spot for Kiwi fruit and beans.

Annual vegetables are planted after the chickens.

Water is scarce, the volcanic soil drains quickly, so irrigation is necessary.

Enriching compost is made directly on the beds.

Before digging, black plastic solarises the Kikuyu grass.

The chicken tractor in the background matches the width of the garden beds.

Yacon is boiled down to a syrup..

A chicken tractor prepares for an orchard

.

Penned chickens prepare the soil.

Comfrey is cut to provide a green mulch.

This chicken tractor is moved each day.

Jodi demonstrates the 'broadfork'.

Michael demonstrates the sharpening method for his scythe.

The scythe was remarkably light, silent and efficient.

Jodi shows a tool that 'blocks' seedling mix in cubes.

A greenhouse of Jodi's seedlings.

Seedlings thrive in the 'blocked' mix at front.

Irene studies Jodi's cucumbers, beans and tomatoes.

Jodi and Michael donated two 'Newcastle Pink' heritage tomatoes for Bellingen Seedsavers to 'grow on'. This tomato has been grown by the original donor of the seeds for thirty years and he wanted the seeds preserved for posterity.