Growing Malabar Spinach In my Potted Garden.

Malabar Spinach is pretty vine with edible leaves,stems and young shoots,also known by other names such as Ceylon creeper,Buffalo spinach,Indian Spinach or Pui. Quite slimy in texture just like Okra or Ladyfinger. Malabar Spinach can be used in Stews,Soups,Salads,Stir-fries, the leaves can be deep fried in batter and served as an appetizer or snack,the young flower buds can be pickled so the choices are endless.However if you don't plan on eating the plant you can simply grow it just for the sake of its beauty or as a cover up.The red variety of Malabar Spinach looks absolutely stunning with its deep burgundy colored stems and veins against the dark green glossy leaves.Malabar Spinach can be grown by seed or stem cuttings placed in water in till they root.







                                                                     
                                          On the left Red Malabar Spinach & To the right Green
                                          Malabar Spinach.

Malabar Spinach is creeping vine so you can make a trellis to support it once the plant gets about a feet or two in size,you dont want it to cling on to other plants for support

Close up of Red Malabar Spinach 

Malabar Spinach is an easy to grow vine that just takes of and grows like crazy. It does well in full to partial sunlight,can grow in any type of soil, and hardly gets infested by any sort of plant pests,so its a great choice for amateur gardeners like me who are trying to grow their own vegetables with success.One thing i realized with the Malabar Spinach is that if you keep the soil moist and the Plant in spot where there is part shade the plant tends to give bigger leaves like the pictures below shows how the leaves get bigger and bigger each day.If the plant flowers too quickly the leaves tend to get bitter.

                                                           

Once you have harvested the plant you can let it go into the flowering mode so that you can save up the seeds to start new saplings.The seeds when ripe and pressed between the fingers give out a natural dye that can be used to color foods or cloth.

                                                       Tender Young leaves Growing 

I do not have pictures of the flowers since i don't want my Malabar spinach plant to flower so soon as its too young and also did not harvest any leaves so far but once it does,I will definitely get hold of some pics to share with you all also if you have any tips on how to grow Malabar Spinach you can share them with me.Till then Happy Gardening to you all.