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31.07.2017
In recent years, the attention of gardeners has increasingly attracted unusual and exotic crops that can be grown in temperate climate. Among the well-known and long-established inhabitants of our beds, beets, spinach, quinoa and other representatives of the Amaranth family, this culture is little known. It has several names: capitate zhminda, capitate pigweed, strawberry spinach or raspberry spinach, etc.
or strawberry spinach(lat. Blítum capitátum, Chenopódium capitatum, Amaranth family) is an annual herbaceous plant, one of the earliest spring suppliers of vegetable vitamin greens. The leaves of strawberry spinach are eaten in the same way as the leaves of ordinary spinach: they are used to prepare salads, add them to green borscht, vegetable and cold soups, and make a filling for baked goods. The berries have a fresh, slightly sweet taste. The more sun and moisture the plant receives, the sweeter and juicier the fruits grow, reaching 1–2 cm in diameter. As they ripen, their color changes from pale orange to cherry. It is recommended to collect overripe fruits when the amount of sugar in them reaches its maximum value.
When fresh, the berries are slightly reminiscent of mulberries or raspberries in consistency and appearance. They can be added raw to salads and first courses, although they are more often used to make preserves, jams, compotes, and kvass. Thanks to the natural dye found in the berries, they serve as a component that helps give a beautiful ruby color to alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Strawberry spinach is the leader among vegetable and green crops in terms of iron content. Both leaves and fruits are rich in vitamins (A, B1, B2, C, E, P), fatty acids, various biologically active substances, and microelements (calcium, potassium, magnesium).
Strawberry spinach has long been cultivated in the Netherlands and Germany, where it was well known for its decorative properties. Natural environment The habitat of this plant is North America. There it is distributed on moist, shady banks of rivers and lakes, in the mountainous areas of the USA and Canada. In its wild form, strawberry spinach is found in Europe in Italy, Spain, France, the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, in the south of Scandinavia, in Finland, in the southern part of Russia on waste lands, hilly areas rich in nutrients, as well as in mountainous areas. Strawberry spinach was first mentioned in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus under the name capitate pigweed. The plant can grow on any soil, but prefers well-warmed areas, protected from strong winds, with sandy and clayey, lime-rich soils.
The benefits of this plant are due to its powerful antioxidant effect. Strawberry spinach has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, cleansing blood vessels and protecting them from the effects of cholesterol, normalizing blood pressure. Its positive effect on the digestive tract is also known: it improves intestinal motility and eliminates constipation. The Indians of North America used preparations from the leaves of strawberry spinach to relieve toothache and rheumatism. The plant helps strengthen the nervous system, prevent mastopathy, and lower blood sugar levels. It is recommended as an anti-scorbutic remedy for anemia, thyroid disease, as a cleansing and immune remedy.
When consuming fresh spinach, you should keep in mind that it is rich in oxalic acid, so you should avoid it if you have a peptic ulcer, inflammatory processes in the kidneys, gall bladder and bladder (pyelonephritis, cystitis, cholelithiasis), gout.
Strawberry spinach is a very unpretentious and cold-resistant plant. Withstands late spring and early autumn frosts down to – 10° C. No less hardy in hot, dry periods. Grows readily in temperate climates. Refers to fast-growing annual crops. It reproduces well by self-sowing, so it is recommended to collect its berries in time to avoid the spread of strawberry spinach throughout the area. Seeds sown before winter give early spring shoots. But to obtain an even earlier harvest, the seedling method is also used.
You can also sow seeds in spring, in late March - early April. Their germination time can vary from 5 – 6 to 20 days. To speed up the process of seed germination, they are placed in warm water for 20 - 24 hours (+22 - 25° C), periodically replacing it with a fresh one. A similar effect is obtained by soaking the seeds for half an hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The most optimal distance between plants is 15–20 cm. The row spacing can vary from 25 to 35 cm. Seeds are placed in the soil to a depth of 2–3 cm, sowing them in rows. When the seedlings form two true leaves and the plants reach a height of 5 cm, they are thinned out. It should be taken into account that strawberry spinach first forms a dense basal rosette of leaves, and then throws out stems up to 50–60 cm high, on which (in the axils of the leaves) fruits are formed. To facilitate harvesting, the stems are tied up, since under the weight of the fruit they bend to the ground. Further care consists of loosening, weeding and watering, as well as mineral and organic fertilizers(solution ammonium nitrate, wood ash, mullein solution or bird droppings). Young green leaves are collected before the crop begins to flower. The fruits ripen in July. The harvest can be harvested until mid-autumn, as ripe berries remain on the stems for a long time.
Touted as both a vitamin-rich spinach and a flavorful berry. It's called strawberry spinach. Many people willingly buy seeds and plant them on their plots. In order for the hopes placed on this plant to be justified, you need to know in advance about its features, pros and cons.
Spinach, strawberries or something else?
“Strawberry spinach” sounds quite tempting. So to speak, two in one. But in fact, this plant is nothing more than multileaf pigweed. Another name is common zhminda. It belongs to the Amaranth family and the Chenopodiaceae subfamily. In southern Europe and northern Africa, pigweed grows mainly as a weed. The plant is cultivated in a few countries, for example in the Netherlands. Some people mistakenly consider strawberry spinach to be quinoa, which, by the way, was previously cultivated. But that's two different plants, although they belong to the same family. Mary is not as unique as advertised, but it can be cultivated. It has useful properties, but there is little hassle in growing it.
Description
Strawberry spinach is presented in many sources as an annual. However, if the stems remain unharvested in the ground, they may sprout again in the spring. The root of the plant is quite thick and has many branches. The main stem is difficult to identify. Usually there are several of them, each up to 70 centimeters long. The leaves are not fleshy and do not look like spinach. They are petiolate, pointed at the ends, jagged along the edge. The flowers are small and inconspicuous in appearance, but there are a lot of them on the branch. Located almost at the base (in the axil) of each leaf. The fruit looks like a berry. Some compare it with strawberries, others with raspberries, and still others with mulberries. It contains many small seeds and little pulp. The color of the fruit is bright red, but it is considered ripe when it turns almost burgundy. The seeds are very small, black and shiny.
Features of cultivation
If you want to grow strawberry spinach at home, planting and caring for it will not cause any difficulties. Having so many weeds among its relatives, the plant adopted their extraordinary vitality, unpretentiousness and fertility. It grows on any soil, in shade, partial shade and sun, with or without watering. Winter frosts It tolerates it well, sprouts as soon as the first blades of grass begin to appear from the ground. If frosts suddenly occur at this time, strawberry spinach will endure them without the slightest damage to its green “organism.” That is, it grows like ordinary grass. But for the plant to have more beautiful view, it is better to plant it in the sun or in sparse partial shade, regularly water and weed. The most favorable soils for it are fertile ones with a lot of calcium.
Growing seedlings
In order to please the strawberry spinach harvest as quickly as possible, this crop is grown from seedlings. They start this in the first ten days of March. Special cassettes for seedlings are filled earth mixture, 1-2 seeds are placed in each cell, sprinkled with soil on top and watered. Goosefoot seeds are very small, so if they are placed deep in the soil, they may not sprout at all. The finished cassettes are covered with glass or plastic film. When 5-6 leaves appear on the sprouts, the spinach is planted in the garden. The distance between plants is at least 40 cm, as the bushes grow greatly. For best result the garden bed is fertilized by mixing the soil with wood ash. It is also recommended to feed spinach with organic matter at least twice a season.
To make it easier to move from window sill to permanent place residence grown strawberry spinach, growing seedlings is carried out in or pots. You can also sow seeds in one common box, but in this case, transplanting seedlings into the ground will become labor-intensive.
Growing by seeds
There are other ways to grow strawberry spinach. So, the plant grows well from seeds. They are sown as soon as the snow melts and the earth warms up a little, or in the fall, before frost sets in. Although pigweed practically does not get sick, before sowing the seeds are kept in a weak place for 20-30 minutes. Holes are made in the garden bed and 4-6 seeds are placed there. After 2-3 leaves appear on the seedlings, the weakest sprouts are pulled out.
You can also sow spinach in rows. The sprouts that have emerged are thinned out, leaving about 10 cm between them. When the plants grow and begin to interfere with each other, they are thinned out again, now maintaining a distance of 35-40 cm between them. The torn spinach is not thrown away, but used for food. To make the sprouts hatch faster, the holes are covered with jars. And if the spinach was planted in rows, the entire bed is covered with film.
Self-seeding
If strawberry spinach has already grown in the garden, growing from seeds, much less seedlings, is not required. Now it will grow by self-sowing. Some gardeners are afraid that in this case, spinach, like weeds, will choke the rest of the crops. Fears are in vain, since this prolific crop is easy to get rid of. You just need to prevent it from forming berries. For example, if you plan to use greens for salads, do not tear off individual leaves, but rather pull out the plant by the roots.
Harvest
If you are determined to grow strawberry spinach in your garden, growing from seeds is best for you. Firstly, this is the easiest way, and secondly, you can be sure that the plant will definitely sprout. In about a month, the bushes will grow, forming up to 10 shoots each. Berries in large quantities will be for everyone. They will turn red around July, but can only be harvested when they are soft. Then they have a sweetish taste. Hard berries have no taste or smell, and when cooked they turn from red to slightly yellowish.
There is no need to be afraid that, when they are overripe, they will fall to the ground. They stay in the axil of the shoot so well that they are collected directly from the branches, and only then torn off. It is more comfortable. Ripe red balls wonderfully decorate emerald green strawberry spinach. The photo demonstrates this very well. Externally, the fruits are similar to raspberries, but in fact they are more reminiscent of mulberries (due to the large number of small seeds). The amount of harvest depends on the care of the plant. It can be roughly determined from the calculation that the size of each berry is approximately 1.5 cm, and there are up to 35 of them on each shoot. However, without watering and on poor soils, the fruit size is much smaller.
What are the benefits of multileaf pigweed, or zhminda (strawberry spinach)
On the pages of magazines devoted to gardening, and on other resources on related subjects, you can find a lot of information about the content of a large number of vitamins and microelements, although no one has conducted special research. By analogy with garden spinach, which belongs to the same family as strawberry plants are determined by the content of vitamins PP, B1 and B2, C, as well as microelements - iron, copper, calcium, magnesium, sodium. ethnoscience recommends eating half a glass of spinach berries every day to increase the level of hemoglobin in the blood, and consuming the green part (in the form of salads) to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract and improve the functioning of the nervous system. Baths of dried strawberry spinach leaves are used for joint pain. They are also used to make compresses.
Use in cooking
Not all gardeners liked strawberry spinach. Reviews from many who grew it contain information that the berries of this plant are absolutely unsuitable for food, and the leaves are no different from quinoa. Well, as they say, it’s a matter of taste... There are many people who praise zminda, but only warn that you must wait until the berries are completely ripe. Then you can make delicious compotes, pie fillings, and jam from them. In addition, they can be dried or frozen and used in winter. The leaves of the plant are great for salads. This is why strawberry spinach is especially valuable, because it is the first spring vitamin green. If you are going to boil the leaves, remember that the chlorophyll contained in them turns into pheophytin, which is undesirable for those suffering from kidney stones. To prevent chlorophyll from being destroyed so much, spinach leaves are boiled in plenty of water.
Berry recipes
Jam
Boil syrup from sugar and water (product ratio - 1:1). Wash the berries, dry them a little and put them in the prepared syrup. Let it boil and leave for 12 hours. After this, let the mixture boil again and leave to infuse again. Cook for the third time until done.
You can add other berries to the jam to improve the taste. It turns out especially good with kiwi.
Kvass
Do not wash the berries! They contain unique natural yeasts that help the kvass “ferment.”
Collect half a bucket of berries, pour them into the bucket warm water, add 2 kg of sugar, close and place in a warm place. Fermentation lasts 3 days, after which the incredibly tasty, slightly intoxicating and very aromatic drink is ready.
Leaf Recipes
Many people use it as the first spring greenery strawberry spinach. Reviews here are also mixed. Some people find the leaves of the plant tasteless, so they add something else to the salad with them, for example radishes.
Hot salad
Chop 1-2 onions and a couple of cloves of garlic and lightly fry in sunflower (or olive) oil. Wash the spinach leaves, chop finely, place in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain in a colander. Add cooked leaves, finely chopped canned olives, spices, salt to the onion and garlic in a frying pan and simmer, covered, until tender. You can add a beaten egg at the very end of cooking.
Pie
Wash the spinach leaves, cut them and place them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain them in a colander and place them in a bowl. Finely chop the onion and fry in oil. Add spinach to bowl ready onions and some salty cheese, pre-shredded (preferably Greek feta, but our cheese can also be used). Puff pastry roll out into a thin layer and divide into two parts. Place the prepared filling on the first one, cover it all with the second one, seal it around the edges and place it in the oven. Bake until done.
Decorative use
Strawberry spinach is most often used to decorate your garden. The photos presented to your attention demonstrate how bright and beautiful it is. The value of this plant is that the red fruits stay on the branches from June to the end of September, creating a wonderful border along paths or bright unusual spots in flower beds. Spinach's unpretentiousness allows it to be planted in or in those areas of the garden where other plants do not take root well.
Recently one of the popular exotic plants strawberry spinach appeared in our beds. It deserves attention due to its attractiveness and unusual looking. Many gardeners are still confident that this is a certain berry bush. But strawberry spinach is a green vegetable!
Family: Cygnaceae
Other names: Spinach-raspberry, berry spinach, pigweed many-sided
Fruit: Ruby red color. They look like raspberries. The taste is fresh.
Value: All parts of the plant are edible. However, the bulk of the vitamins are found in the leaves.
Spinach – annual vegetable plant. The culture is unpretentious and cold-resistant. Grows well in any soil, in full sun or partial shade. However, it must be sown in a separate area - if the harvest is incomplete, the seeds themselves scatter and can “clog” the entire garden.
Agricultural technology
The plant is grown in three ways: sowing seeds in the ground, self-sowing and seedlings.
IN open ground berry spinach seeds are sown in late April - early May or before winter to a depth of 0.5–1 cm. The distance between rows is 30–40 cm. Since the seeds are very small, before sowing it is advisable to mix them with sand in a ratio of 1:3. The seedlings are periodically thinned out, leaving about 10 cm between plants at first, and subsequently 30–35 cm.
For getting early greenery It's better to grow seedlings. To do this, in mid-March, the seeds are sown in small boxes or containers with soil mixture. Shoots appear in 10–12 days. At the age of 30–35 days, the seedlings are planted in the ground. Planting pattern – 40 by 40 cm.
Water spinach frequently and generously – three to four times a week. The soil must be loosened. Fertilize with mullein solution (1:5) and complex mineral fertilizers (30–40 g per 10 liters of water). Spinach responds very well to wood ash, which is embedded in moist soil. Plants grow quite voluminously and require. This crop is practically not affected by diseases and garden pests.
Is there quinoa in the garden?
At the beginning of development, the plant looks like an ordinary quinoa. Then, as it grows, the stem becomes straight, branched, leafy to the very top. Berry spinach blooms at the end of June, the fruits appear in the second half of summer. They look like berries of a beautiful bright ruby color. The taste of the fruit is slightly fresh and sweet.
The pulp contains many small hard seeds.
Berry spinach leaves can be eaten all summer long. The main thing is to tear them off carefully so as not to damage the growing point. When the fruits turn red, it does not mean that they are already ripe. The berries must become soft - only then do they acquire their specific taste. The fruits are best combined with various fruits and other berries. They are used to make compotes and kvass. At the same time, it is recommended to add cinnamon, cloves or vanillin to drinks.
This pretty plant can be used as an ornamental plant - to decorate a garden or a composition in a container.
Seeds for future use
Preparing spinach seeds is easy. Ripe berries are lightly ground, filled with water and left for several days in a warm place. When they ferment, the mass is washed through a sieve several times until the seeds are cleared of mucus. Just keep in mind that they are very fine, so the sieve must be appropriate. After washing, the seeds are spread in a thin layer on a cloth or paper napkin to remove excess moisture. Then dry in a ventilated area until they become free-flowing. Store in a closed glass jar or paper bags in a cool, dry place.
Benefit
- The plant contains a rich set of vitamins C, B1, B2, E, A, P, micro- and macroelements.
- In terms of iron and lipid (fatty acids) content, spinach-raspberry is a real champion among vegetable crops.
- Medicinal teas, healing decoctions and tinctures that enhance immunity are prepared from dried leaves.
- Spinach-raspberries are used to treat diathesis in children.
Try: “Spring” salad
A handful of spinach, torn lettuce, a bunch of chopped radishes, fresh cucumber, chopped into large cubes, juice of half a lemon and 3 tbsp. l. olive oil. Mix everything, add salt to taste.
Spinach-raspberry
Spinach-raspberry
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spinach with berries
Berry spinach (strawberry), raspberry spinach, or common zhmida,- relatively new vegetable crop, but she has already managed to fall in love with many gardeners. It is a spreading perennial family quinoaceae, up to 60 cm high, in the axils of the leaves of which red berries of a fresh taste are formed with a faint smell of strawberries. All parts of the plant used for food are rich in valuable mineral salts and contain easily digestible proteins and sugars. They also contain a lot of vitamins. Salads, purees, and pancakes are prepared from the leaves. They are prepared for future use- frozen or dried. Spinach leaves are used as food in the same way as spinach leaves.- in fresh, dried and canned form. The berries are used to make jam, puree, jam, and add them to compotes.
Berry spinach has medicinal properties: strengthens the nervous system, helps with constipation and gas accumulation in the intestines. It is recommended for use by patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus, for baby and dietary nutrition, prevention of scurvy and vitamin deficiency. Recently, berry spinach has been used as a remedy against radiation sickness and to prevent the formation of tumors.
This culture is cold-resistant, photophilous and moisture-loving, and can withstand frosts down to minus 7 degrees. It develops poorly in hot and dry weather. Depending on the climate zone, it is cultivated both as an annual and as a perennial vegetable. With good shelter for the winter, plants bear fruit for more than one year, even in middle lane Russia.
Loose, fertile soils are preferred for cultivating strawberry spinach. Seeds can be sown directly into the ground, as they germinate quickly. The crop is very fast-growing: only 60-70 days pass from germination to the formation of berries. You can also grow spinach through seedlings, but seedlings have difficulty withstanding damage to the root system during transplantation.
Berry spinach seeds are sown in early spring(in the end of April-
early May) or before winter (late October-
early November) to a depth of 2-3 cm. The rows are placed at a distance of 30-40 cm from one another. Since the seeds are very small, before sowing it is advisable to mix them with sand in a ratio of 1:3. Sowing of seedlings is carried out a month before planting them in open ground. Sow in pots with a diameter of 5 cm. Seedlings are planted in a bed according to a 35x35 cm pattern.
When sowing seeds directly in a permanent place, the plants are thinned out as seedlings appear, leaving a distance of 5-6 cm between them at first, and then- 30-35 cm. Spinach is watered frequently and abundantly - three to four times a week, after each watering the soil is loosened.
After thinning, feed with mullein diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5, and then after 10 days use a solution of complex mineral fertilizer(30-40 g per 10 liters of water), using in both the first and second cases 1 watering can of solution per 2-5 m2.
Diseases and enemies of berry spinach - root rot, white and gray rot, leaf spot, aphids, whiteflies, leaf-eating caterpillars, slugs. How to deal with them? Thin out berry spinach in a timely manner, loosen and weed.
Berry spinach easily propagates by self-sowing and clogs the area. In this case, you just need to pull out the extra plants without waiting for the seeds to form.
Berry spinach leaves are harvested throughout the summer, and ripe berries can be picked regularly for two months.
N. Pustovalova , Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Moscow
(Garden and vegetable garden No. 6, 2003)
Spinach-raspberry strawberry
This culture can be called the culture of the 21st century, since it appeared quite recently. But in such a short time it has already won one of the first places in gardens and vegetable gardens abroad. It is almost unknown to Russian gardeners. There have been very few publications about it, which is why you can rarely see it in our gardens and orchards. But I think it deserves the attention of our gardeners and gardeners.
Strawberry spinach-raspberry- annual herbaceous plant of unusual beauty. Low, about 50 cm spreading bushes that seem to glow red- There are so many bright, rather large, juicy and sweet berries on them, similar to strawberries and raspberries at the same time. The berries sit very firmly on the branch, never fall off, are transportable, and are stored for a long time.- This is their difference from strawberries and raspberries. Jam, juices, compotes are prepared from the fruits; they are added to jam from berries with high acidity.
Spinach-raspberries do not contain acid at all, so you need to add a little lemon, apples, and citric acid to juices, compotes and jam made from them.- any juice from berries or fruits containing acid. The wine made from spinach-raspberries has a delicate, pleasant taste and aroma. Spinach-raspberry seeds are very small and black. They need to be sown in a greenhouse or box a month before planting in a pound, preferably in pots, since the seedlings do not tolerate transplantation very well. When replanting, care must be taken to damage the roots of the plants as little as possible. The seeds are sown to a depth of 0.3 cm. Or you can scatter them over the surface of the soil and water them abundantly. You need to water the crops daily, without allowing the top layer of soil to dry out, through a fine strainer, so that when watering the seeds do not go deep into the ground. The shoots are elongated and begin to appear after 10-15 days within 2-3 weeks. At two weeks of age, seedlings can be planted in the ground in a permanent place at a distance of 60 cm from one another. The seedlings tolerate frosts down to -5-8°C, so they can be planted early.
Strawberry spinach-raspberry has edible not only berries, but also leaves, which are used in soups and salads. They are collected all summer, but you cannot pick too many, since the berries appear at the base of each leaf without flowering. It is better to collect leaves after picking berries. The first berries begin to ripen a month and a half after germination, and their collection continues throughout the summer.- until the frosts.
Spinach-raspberry bushes require garter, since their horizontally extending shoots are completely strewn with berries and lie down under their weight. The yield of spinach-raspberries reaches two liters from one bush. The plant is highly decorative. It will amaze everyone who sees it in your garden or vegetable garden.
The agricultural technology for cultivating this crop is very simple and accessible to any gardener. It grows on any soil with a neutral reaction, but still prefers light and fertile soils. Loves light, but succeeds with slight shading. Very demanding on boron. With its deficiency, the buds begin to die and young leaves wither. Feed the plants with wood ash and compost. The soil around the bushes is also mulched with compost. Strawberry spinach-raspberry- also medicinal plant. It has absorbed the most lush bouquet medicines. Raspberries contain various salts, among which potassium, calcium, phosphorus and iron salts occupy a large place. Spinach-raspberry is a source of many vitamins- C, B1, B2, P, K, E, folic acid, carotene and others.
Collect seeds from the first, largest berries. To do this, the berries can be crushed on newspaper and dried. In order for the seeds to germinate faster during spring sowing, there are only one- soak for two days in warm (20-25°C) water, changing it several times, and then dry the seeds until they flow and sow.
A. Kondakov , amateur gardener, Tambov region
Planting spinach is a great addition to your garden plants. A member of the Amaranth family, strawberry spinach is not only an ornamental green, but also an excellent source of vitamin A and one of the most beneficial sources of minerals and nutrients that we can grow in our garden. How to plant strawberry spinach and what are its benefits? About the features of care, planting, beneficial properties read the article.
Origin: general information
Strawberry spinach is native to North America. It grows wild throughout the northern part of the continent, in open foothills, mountainous and subalpine regions. Considered endangered in some US states.
The scientific name of this curious plant is Chenopodium capitatum, which is Latin for capitate pigweed. The plant is popularly known as “strawberry sticks” or “strawberry spinach”. Growing this edible herbaceous plant is of interest to many gardeners. That is why the annual plant is so popular in New Zealand, Canada, and is common in Alaska and Europe. Its favorite habitat is sand dunes and calcareous soils. The plant prefers moist mountain valleys, open forests and flat areas.
What kind of vegetable is this?
Strawberry spinach is an annual herb of the family Chenopodiaceae, a heat-loving species of the genus Blitum, one of the fastest growing types of leaf vegetables. Also known as Goosefoot strawberry and Indian ink, many call it strawberry beet due to the similarity in color and flavor. But strawberries have nothing to do with it. Baby spinach leaves are a good substitute for this plant, either raw or cooked.
Leaves and stems
Strawberry spinach - tender fast growing plant green in color with a pleasant smell. The leaves are wedge-shaped at the base and triangular at the ends, have a pleasant texture, are sharp in the shape of arrows, slightly wavy edges, and grow in pretty open rosettes. Their structure is very similar to soft spinach, so it is better to eat fresh greens right away rather than store them in the refrigerator.
The taste of the leaves is very light and slightly sweet. Their bright, rich color makes an excellent accent in salads, especially when combined with other salad leaves. In their raw form, they are a good source of vitamins C and A. In salad mixtures, the juicy, crisp leaves should be used in small quantities, as the plant is toxic. As they mature they become somewhat tough.
The spinach stems are crisp, sweet and tasty, white and slightly marbled with a subtle hint of beetroot flavor. Can be eaten fresh or used in soups. The lower leaves have a long stem; as they mature, the stems become shorter and the leaves gather into large “spears” every 2-3 cm and move up the stem, becoming less jagged.
Botanical description: flowers
Chenopodium capitatum, also known as Beetroot and Strawberry Spinach, Strawberry Blite, has some attractive traits. The small, spherical flower clusters (up to ½ inch) are green when ripe but soon turn bright red. These numerous flowers are densely packed in round clusters in the uppermost leaf axils and twisted around the upper stem. At the peak of flowering, they form clusters up to 3/8 inch in size.
Flowers have no petals. They have 3 short stamens surrounding an oval green center with a tiny 2-sided spire at the tip. It soon turns brown. At the base of the flower there is a green calyx with three elongated lobes less than 1 mm long. Strawberry spinach flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are wind pollinated.
Berries
Mature plants have shiny red berries with distinct seeds. They taste sweet, with a subtle aroma of strawberries and nuts. As it ripens, the calyx expands and is filled with ripe, bright scarlet pulp. The calyx lobes curve around a single brown seed. The berries appear on stems that rise above the foliage. In the initial period of ripening they are green.
The plant contains vitamins A and C, thiamine, potassium, folic acid and carotenoids lutein. Native Americans used the red berries to dye leather, clothing, and materials, and the juice from the edible fruit was used as a red food coloring. It is not for nothing that this vegetable, due to its peculiarity, received another unconventional name - “Indian ink”.
If you do not thin out the spinach and do not replant the plant on time, the seeds will spread throughout the garden. This is one way to breed crops for forestry. Sweet-tasting red spinach berries can be used in salads, but they add more visual appeal than flavor.
Features worth knowing about
The leaves and seeds of this plant contain saponins - these are toxic substances that in small quantities are not capable of causing any harm to our body. Saponins are poorly digestible and are largely destroyed during the cooking process.
The plant also contains oxalic acid, which in large quantities can reduce the nutritional value of food and interfere with calcium absorption. However, even taking this into account, strawberry spinach is very nutritious vegetable in reasonable quantities. Heat treatment of the plant will reduce the oxalic acid content. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take special care when consuming spinach in their diet as it may aggravate their health condition.
Strawberry spinach, which has the most controversial reviews, nevertheless has antioxidant properties, which increases the assessment of its positive qualities. It is better to enjoy the best taste properties of greens at the beginning of the season, since the plant prefers coolness and reacts painfully to heat, producing flowers and seeds with a bitter taste. Spinach will begin to bloom as soon as the spring days begin to lengthen and temperatures rise above 23°C. Therefore, this feature should be taken into account when preparing salads. The optimal temperature for growing succulent leaves is up to +23 °C. Watering also affects the taste; the plant needs sufficient moisture.
Cultivation
This plant is cultivated by gardeners, but has never been grown very widely. Strawberry spinach grows quickly and acquires a decorative function when full growth. The plant prefers moist soil and plenty of light. In well-drained, fertile garden soil and a sunny position, it blooms from June to August and reaches a height of 1 to 3 feet. Just keep the plants raised and well watered regularly.
A cultivated plant is essentially the same as a wild plant and therefore does not need special care, so how ornamental plant Ideal for borders or patios. In northern regions with a mild climate, the harvest season is longer. You can also plant spinach in the fall. Uncontrolled breeding of this herbaceous plant can become a real problem, spinach will behave like a weed and become a serious pest for garden plantings.
Seedlings from seeds
Strawberry spinach seeds are small but easy to harvest. They should be soaked in water overnight and thoroughly rinsed and dried. You can then store it in a cool, dry place until next year.
As an edible crop, sowing of the plant should begin at the end of February. Seeds should rarely be sown in trays to a depth of no more than 1.5 cm. The soil temperature should be above +10 °C to ensure good germination. It is advisable to use fertile garden soil. Like other members of the genus, strawberry spinach prefers a lot of light.
Growing from seeds should begin in a closed, cool room. Make sure the soil in the trays is moist. Use good compost to produce more seeds. The first shoots will appear 14 days after planting. Once the plant reaches a height of 20-40 cm or 8-16 inches and the first two leaves appear on the stem, it should be replanted.
Strawberry spinach seedlings react painfully to the late transplant procedure. The seedlings need to be transplanted before the last expected frost. Harvesting occurs 45-60 days from the start of planting. Rich soil and sufficient water will provide best growth and full berries.
Planting and care
Chenopodium capitatum is an easy to grow plant that is tolerant of light frost, cold weather. Strawberry spinach prefers a lot of light and sun, moderately fertile soil. Planting and care are carried out from the beginning of spring.
If you grow a plant in an area with a cold winter, then at the end of spring you can already harvest the first harvest of young leaves, and in the summer - berries. If you live in an area with warm winters, then seedlings should be planted in the fall, then the plant will gain strength throughout the winter and the harvest will last throughout the spring.
How to grow strawberry spinach? The plant is an annual and can be sown directly from seed for harvest the same year. It blooms from July to August and the seeds ripen from August to September. Planting is carried out in acidic, neutral and alkaline soils. Cannot grow in the shade and needs plenty of watering. Grows up to 60 cm.
Plant spinach outdoors by sowing the seeds ½ inch deep in even rows no more than 16 inches wide. Planting by succession is a great way to have fresh spinach leaves all summer long. To do this, you need to plant the plant in the ground every few weeks. There is no need to additionally fertilize the soil before planting. The flowering period lasts on average 21 days and can begin on the 45th day from the start of growth. The entire vegetative cycle is 126 days.
Growing on a windowsill
Spinach leaves are easy to grow at home. The plant can be grown on a windowsill or directly on the balcony. Enough to support optimal temperature for growth and provide not excessive, but plentiful watering. The soil acidity level should be at least 7. After three weeks, the first spinach shoots should be planted.
Growing lettuce can be done at the same time as planting other vegetables, such as parsley. It is the perfect companion for spinach. Other annual plants can grow next to it: petunias and marigolds. You only need to maintain a distance between the crops so that they are not crowded.
Use organic fish emulsion or cotton seed meal as a fertilizer at home. Feed strawberry spinach throughout its growth period with a nitrogen solution. Remember to loosen the soil, but be careful not to damage the plant's fine roots.
Beneficial features
Family Chenopodium, to which it belongs this type spinach is not only a storehouse of nutrients and minerals for humans, but also a source of food for many birds in the wild. In addition to its value, the plant is used as medicine. Strawberry spinach has:
- anti-inflammatory effect on the skin (used as a lotion to combat blackheads);
- relieves eye swelling and fights bruising, reduces the risk of degeneration macular spot and cataracts as we age;
- antioxidant effects (vitamins A and C help support a healthy cardiovascular system, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke, while folic acid reduces the risk of developing certain types of cancer);
- softening effect (for inflammatory processes in the lungs, the juice given by the seeds is consumed orally).
Spinach seeds can be dried and ground into flour. The crushed seeds are used as grain crops in making bread. Since spinach is a leafy vegetable, always rinse the leaves with clean water before consuming.
