Germination temperature
Cool to mild: sow once the soil has warmed to about 15 °C (59 °F).
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Strawberry spinach is an easy annual with spinach-like leaves and bright red, berry-like fruit clusters along its stems. Sow it shallowly into a sunny bed in cool weather and keep the soil moist for steady growth.
Cool to mild: sow once the soil has warmed to about 15 °C (59 °F).
About 1 cm (0.4 in).
Most seed usually comes up within a few days of sowing.
Seed is lightly covered; plants need full sun and do poorly in shade.
None needed.
Direct sowing is simplest; module-raised seedlings give an earlier crop.
Strawberry spinach (Blitum virgatum, also listed as Chenopodium foliosum) is a temperate annual of the amaranth family. Sow fresh, dry seed straight from the packet; mixing it with a little fine sand makes thin sowing easier.
Not needed. The seed coat is not hard, and seed sown in spring usually germinates within days.
Not needed. Spring-sown seed germinates without any cold period.
Not needed for sowing. Soaking and rinsing is only used when the seed itself is eaten, to wash off bitter saponins.
Sow when the soil reaches about 15 °C (59 °F). In temperate climates that is mid to late spring. On the Indian plains, treat it as a cool-season crop and sow after the monsoon, in the cooler months, rather than in summer heat.
About 1 cm (0.4 in) deep, in rows or small groups. Deeper sowing only delays emergence of such small seed.
Any reasonably fertile garden soil, sandy, loamy or clay, from mildly acid to mildly alkaline. For modules use a fine seed compost.
Keep the surface evenly moist until the seedlings are up. The plant prefers moist soil throughout its life.
Light is not needed under the thin soil cover. Choose an open, sunny spot: the plant cannot grow well in shade.
Usually a few days in warm, moist soil; slower in cold ground.
For an earlier harvest, sow two or three seeds per module indoors, keep the strongest seedling and plant it out with its root ball intact once the weather is settled. Otherwise sow directly and thin the seedlings so each plant has room to branch.
Keep young plants weeded and loosen the soil surface lightly to stop crusting. Young leaves can be picked as soon as plants are well established; the red fruit clusters follow along the stems in summer.
Cause: too much shade. Fix: grow in full sun; this species does not cope with shade.
Cause: dry soil. Fix: although often called tough, it prefers moist soil. Water deeply in dry spells and mulch.
Cause: seed sown too thickly. Fix: mix seed with sand for sowing and thin early.
Cause: this is normal. The fruits are mild and only slightly sweet. Fix: pick them when deep red and use them for colour in salads rather than for flavour.
Use the leaves like spinach. Eat raw leaves only in small amounts; cooking reduces their oxalic acid.
The fruits ripen a few at a time, so harvest by hand over several weeks, cutting or pinching the ripe clusters from the stem.
Sow small batches a few weeks apart for a longer supply of young leaves.
Fallen seed can come up the next season. Pull unwanted seedlings while small.
Sow strawberry spinach in a sunny bed for leafy greens and bright red fruit clusters.
Both belong to the amaranth family, but strawberry spinach is Blitum virgatum, a separate genus. Its leaves are used in the same way as spinach.
Yes. The soft red fruits are eaten raw. They are mild rather than sweet, so they are mostly used to add colour to salads.
It is a temperate annual, so sow it in the cool season after the monsoon on the plains, or in spring and summer in the hills.