Warrigal Greens

Back in early October I went to a council event on backyard bush foods and came away with 2 small Warrigal Green (aka Native Spinach, aka New Zealand Spinach) seedlings that made it into the upper side garden bed. This is all that’s left of those 2 seedlings (growing up along a native raspberry shoot that has sprung up from the parent plant I got at the same giveaway).

I really don’t know much about Warrigal Greens except that they’re supposed to grow all year round and be virtually a weed once established. I guess mine aren’t established 😦

I have read that you can propagate them by cuttings (or seeds, which I don’t have) so I figured I should give that a go. I first cleaned out a veggie bed by digging up a couple of old tomato plants (full of flies) and then I threw in a 1/4 bucket of cow manure. I cut the end off of my one surviving Warrigal Green plant, dipped it into a root growth liquid and put it in the bed. (I also moved a struggling basil seedling to the same bed since this bed gets plenty of sun.) I watered the cutting and will keep it moist for a couple of weeks. Time will tell if it strikes. I think that if it ever does establish itself, it will It spread vine-like and survive multiple years and probably self-propagate so I’ll be set for life. Maybe “hope” is a more accurate term than “think” in this case.

Here’s hoping!

 

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