Malabar Spinach

 

Note from the Author: This was overdue, I think.

 

 

The flowers are ok-ish and not all that special.

The semi-succulent leaves can get pretty big, I would advise using a pair of snippers to harvest only the leaves.

Many online sites say the berries taste good, I'm guessing they're ok with them being bland.

Red Malabar spinach has pronounced red stems.

Common Name: Malabar Spinach

 

Other Common Names: Ceylon Spinach, Alugbati, Indian Spinach, Vine Spinach.

 

Botanical Family: Basellaeae (The Malabar Spinach Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Basella alba ‘rubra’

 

Description & Habitat: 

Malabar Spinach is a non-native annual vine that readily resows itself in warmer parts of North America and can become a nuisance. Malabar Spinach is native to the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and New Guinea. Generally speaking Malabar Spinach is a fast-growing warm season vine that can produce vines as long as thirty-three feet long in a growing season under optimal conditions. Its leaves are heart shaped, semi-succulent and are borne in an alternate arrangement.  The stems and leaf petioles have a red coloration that makes them stand out more. The plant’s flowers are small pink and white colored and are spheroid shaped and lack petals. The berries produced from the flowers are a dark purple color and are edible but do not taste like much of anything. In zone 8B, this plant will return from seeds yearly and its seedlings emerge in late spring or early summer. The Malabar Spinach vines are vigorous and the plants are fairly tolerant of average to low quality soil. In cultivation his plant is fairly drought resistant and reacts to nitrogen application rapidly.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  Malabar spinach is not known to be toxic to pets but it does have a small amount of oxalate crystals which are destroyed by cooking.

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves are what you are after.

 

Related Plants: Green Malabar Spinach (Basella alba), this is the pure green version of the plant, it can be use in the exact same way.

 

Recipe:

          The Forager Chef has an excellent recipe for Malabar Spinach, check it out at the link below.

 

https://foragerchef.com/malabar-spinach-recipe/

 

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/malabar-spinach-basella-alba/

 

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://www.rareseeds.com/spinach-red-malabar

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fresh Foods

Fig Leaf Tea, 8oz

 

Herbs

Oregano

Sage, Common

 

 

Fall Plants

Collards

Kale, Scotch Blue

Kale, Ragged Jack

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts,

 

Garden Supply

Live Mushroom Compost, 1 Gallon

Live Mushroom Compost, 3 Gallon

 

Plants Coming Soon:

-Fall Food Plants-

 

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Culantro

 

With all of the updates, blog posts, community announcements and the main topic handled remember that Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’s meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is September 19^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm, or at North South Brewing on the same day between 1:00 and 5:00pm.

Creeping Cucumber

 

 

Creeping Cucumber as seen growing across pine straw is pretty and can in theory be used as a ground cover.

The ripe fruits as you can see are so dark green they appear pretty much black. You don't want to eat these unless you're backed up or something. Reports of them being flat poisonous aren't fully verified.

Note how the unripe fruit kind of resemble little watermelons, these are the ones you want to harvest for eating.

 

Common Name: Creeping Cucumber

 

Other Common Names: Guadeloupe Cucumber, Meloncito, Speckled Gourd

 

Botanical Family: Cucurbitaceae (The Cucumber Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Melothria pendula

 

Description & Habitat:  The Creeping Cucumber is a native perennial vine that is commonly found on the edges of marshes, by the roadside where sandy soil is present, in low woodlands, near parking lot bushes and of course in some gardens. The specimen photographed was found within the PWC facility in Fayetteville NC doing exactly what one might expect it to do; growing up a Cypress bush near a parking area. You can expect to encounter these vines in places with some soil disturbance and they may even be accidentally brought in with potted shrubs.

 

When & What to Harvest: The fruit of this native species of cucurbit is edible however you want to harvest the tiny fruits when they are green and not once they have ripened and turned dark green. The ripe fruit are so dark green they appear to be black and at that stage may have a strong laxative effect which might be useful as a medicine. In the green unripe form the fruits have a patterning that makes them almost resemble miniature watermelons; they have a tart cucumber kind of flavor.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: none

 

Related Edible Species: Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), Mexican Sour Gherkin (Melothria scabra).

 

Recipe: All credible references point to using the green fruit as a snack or putting them in salads raw like one might do with cherry tomatoes.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/melothria-pendula/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melothria_pendula

https://www.eattheweeds.com/creeping-cucumber-melothria-pendula/

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

 

Fresh Foods:

Blueberries, Rabbiteye – 12 ounces

Blueberries, Rabbiteye – 8 ounces

Figs, Mixed* – 16 ounces

Figs, Mixed* – 8 ounces

Tomatoes, Cherry Blend – 12 ounces

 

*Figs will be a mix of what is currently ripe; they might be White Ischia, Chicago Hardy, Celeste, Magnolia, Kadota, Brown Turkey or Petit Nigra.

 

 

Soil Amendment Products (New!)

Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

 

Garden Plants, Perennial

Cutleaf Coneflower

Spineless Prickly Pear

Spanish Bayonet

 

Garden Plants, Annual

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Yellow

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Orange

Madagascar Periwinkle, Blackberry

Madagascar Periwinkle, Cranberry

Zinnia, All American Mix

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Little Brown Jugs

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is July 20^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

English Ivy (Invasive Alert!)

 

Here is your basic green English Ivy foliage.

As the Ivy ages, the leaves will get larger especially when exposed to full sun.

These are the flower buds, the flowers aren't particularly showy and the petals are a pale greenish-yellow color. Note the change in leaf shape on the stem in the upper right corner. This ivy patch is decades old and is displaying mature form characteristics.

Here is a side shot with a lot of flower bud clusters and a shot of a mature form stem, the leaves change shape enough that you might not recognize it's plain old English ivy.

 

 

Common Name: English Ivy

 

Other Common Names: Common Ivy, European Ivy, Ivy.

 

Botanical Family: Araliaceae (The Ginseng Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Hedera helix

 

Description & Habitat:  English Ivy is native to Europe, Northern Africa and parts of

Western Asia. The name ‘Hedera’ is the classical Latin word for ivy and helix means spiral which refers to how ivy tends to spiral in its grown up trees and structures. There are possibly hundreds of specific cultivars of this plant in the nursery trade word wide and in general the more white variegation they have the less aggressive they are however Ivy does have the potential to ‘revert’ or go back to a greener coloration. English Ivy was introduced to the Americas as early as 1727 by European colonists and is generally planted as a care free evergreen ground cover. It is considered a serious weed in wild ecosystems and cultivated landscapes. Eglish Ivy is considered a noxious weed in Autralia, Canada, New Zealand, and in the United States. Oregon in specific bans it’s sale or importing and in some places Ivy can choke out all other plants creating a “Ivy-desert” in the same way Kudzu can. As a final note for this plant, it’s roots do not exude acid, but rather a glue like substance. Also, when this plant blooms it’s flowers are very attractive to Wasps and Hornets.

 

Botanical Latin synonyms for this plant include Hedera acuta, Hedera arborea, Hedera baccifera and also Hedera grandiflora.

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves and berries of English Ivy contain a glycoside called Hederin which can cause negative health effects if ingested.  The foliage may also cause dermatitis in some individuals. In addition to that the large number of saponins found in the leaves and fruits of this plant make it mildly poisonous and it should be avoided as a wild medicine or food. Laboratory grade extracts from this plant are used in modern cough syrups.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: None are known.

 

Recipe: Not applicable.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/vine/hedhel/all.html

https://www.invasive.org/alien/pubs/midatlantic/hehe.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Soil Amendment Products (New!)

Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

 

 

Garden Plants

Cutleaf Coneflower, Large

Cutleaf Coneflower, Medium

Pepper Vine

Cotton, Mississippi Brown Lint

Spanish Bayonet

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Yellow

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Orange

Madagascar Periwinkle, Blackberry

Madagascar Periwinkle, Cranberry

Salvia, Victoria

Zinnia, All American Mix

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

Spineless Prickly Pear

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Lemmon’s Marigold

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is June 22^nd at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.