A Heat-Loving, Edible Beauty
If you’re looking for a leafy green that thrives when the summer sun is blazing and most other greens have called it quits, Red Malabar Spinach is your new garden best friend. Free seeds are available from us in May and June of 2025. Contact the Deep Roots support team 708-655-6299 or support[at]deep-roots-project.org.
Not a True Spinach
With its deep red stems, lush vining habit, and glossy, succulent leaves, this plant is as beautiful as it is useful. Although it’s not technically a true spinach, the taste and texture are close enough that many gardeners use it the same way and fall in love with it for its resilience and beauty.
Red Malabar Spinach, also called New Zealand spinach, climbing spinach, or Ceylon spinach, is officially known as Basella rubra. Native to India and tropical Asia, this plant thrives in heat and humidity. The hotter the summer, the more it seems to flourish.
Eat Raw or Cooked
The leaves are crisp and citrusy when eaten raw and mellow and earthy when cooked. You can toss it into salads, stir it into soups and curries, or blend it into green smoothies. It even produces vivid purple berries that aren't particularly flavorful, but they’re so striking that they’re sometimes used as a natural dye.
In India, the leaves are often sautéed with garlic, onion, chili, and mustard oil—a delicious combination worth trying. Cooked, the leaves are silky but not slimy. Raw, they’re juicy and full of bright, fresh flavor.
Growing Tips
At Deep Roots Project, we grow Malabar spinach using our signature method—100% living compost instead of traditional soil, enriched with worm castings for maximum microbial and nutrient density. This creates the ideal environment for Malabar spinach to grow large, strong, and flavorful, with none of the synthetic inputs used in conventional gardening. Our raised beds packed with life are perfect for heat-loving climbers like this one.
This vigorous vine needs a warm environment, a sturdy large trellis, and consistent moisture to perform at its best. It prefers full sun, though it can tolerate some shade, and it grows rapidly once the weather warms. A couple of plants are usually plenty for a household, producing baskets of leafy greens all through the hot months of summer and into early fall.
Plant Seeds or Stem Cuttings
You can grow Red Malabar Spinach from either seeds or stem cuttings in raised beds or containers. Seeds benefit from scarification—lightly scratching the surface with a nail file or sandpaper helps speed up germination.
Start the seeds indoors six weeks before the last frost if you live in a cooler region like Zone 5b or 6a. Transplant seedlings into the garden only once the soil has fully warmed and there’s no longer any threat of frost. In warmer zones, you can direct sow the seeds in late spring.
Stem cuttings root easily, and pruned vines can often be re-planted directly into the soil to continue growing. That’s just one more reason gardeners love this plant—it’s generous and forgiving.
When planting, give each vine plenty of space to spread out and something to climb. A fence, an arbor, or even an old tomato cage can do the trick. Some gardeners train it to grow over entryways or pergolas, letting the edible vines double as ornamental greenery.
Don’t plant next to large plants like tomatoes and cucumbers since it will grow all over the neighboring plants.
Keep Well Watered
The plant does best in rich, moist soil, and like many leafy greens, it can become bitter if it’s allowed to dry out or go to seed. So keep it well watered and pick the young leaves often to encourage fresh growth and discourage flowering.
Harvesting Tips
Harvest begins once the vines are established. Just snip off the growing tips and tender leaves as needed, leaving the stems to keep producing. The more you harvest, the bushier and more productive your plant becomes.
This plant is a gift for anyone who loves greens but struggles to keep them alive in the peak of summer. Where lettuce and spinach wither, Malabar spinach comes into its own, providing a steady harvest of greens during the hottest weeks of the year. It’s also a great choice for small-space gardens, since it can be grown vertically, freeing up room for other crops.
Save Your Seeds
If you want to save seeds for the next season, let a few berries mature on the vine until they turn deep purple. Once they dry, store them in a cool, dry, dark place. Avoid exposing them to high heat, which can damage their ability to germinate. A paper envelope or sealed glass jar in a cupboard works well.
Perfect for Hot Summers
Malabar spinach is one of those plants that seems too good to be true—gorgeous, delicious, productive, and practically bulletproof in the heat. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or trying your hand at summer greens for the first time, this one’s worth a spot in your raised bed or container garden.
Free Seed Offer for Spring 2025
To help introduce Red Malabar to our local community, Deep Roots is offering free seeds during May and June 2025. Please contact our customer service team at 708-655-5299 or support@deep-roots-project.org.
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