I’m not sure why Chenopodium giganteum isn’t more widely grown. It’s a beautifully decorative annual, sitting well in any mixed border or veg patch (N.B. can grow up to 2m high) and the small outrageously pink leaves will add a bit of glamour to any salad. The larger leaves can be cooked as spinach (with much less shrinkage), and dressed with a sprinkling of olive oil and a splash of lemon juice, is a great veg to accompany many a summer meal.
It’s also definitely worth noting that this plant is a crazy self-seeder (if you let it!), so once grown, you’ll never have to buy another pack of seeds again. I did plant this on my allotment one year, and the following spring a myriad of seedlings popped up on my plot (and my neighbour’s plot too!). But the easily identified bright magenta seedlings can be happily transferred elsewhere if there’s a free spot and thinnings-out can add a succulent bite to the salad bowl. Should you fancy trying this out next spring, seeds are available from Chilterns Seeds.
It used to self-seed in my garden, but for some reason has died out. They practically have a hedge of the stuff at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluffymuppet/9134510111/
Hi Emma, Love that hedge and the size of their runner bean patch too! ( I think it’s bigger than my allotment).
I like the look of that! Edible pink leaves – yes please 🙂
Hi Anna, The pink does look great in salads, It’s like a fine dusting and will rub away if you touch it-quite amazing!
You just reminded me I bought seeds of it at Malvern a few years ago and never sowed it. I’ll dig them out see if they still work..I was struck by how pretty the plant was at the time
Hi Arabella, Once sown, it’ll be popping up again and again (as in VP’s pots above) when least expected. Always pleased to see it though, wherever it lands.
I must have the smallest specimens of tree spinach in the world. They’re tiny self seeded plants which have found their way into some nearby pots from the plant I was given last year 😉
Hi Michelle, I bet they’ll still self-seed given half a chance though!
I will have to try that out! I love new things to try thank you xx
Hi GV, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Just give it plenty of space and it’ll grow to the size of a small Christmas tree!
Those look great! I’m always looking for new greens of a different variety to torture… I mean nourish my children.
Hi JGB, Hopefully the pink’ll fool’em!
What pretty leaves. The seeds are now on my list for an Autumn shop.
Hi Sue, It’s not only gorgeous, but it must be one of the easiest plants to grow. I’m always amazed by how quickly it shoots up, providing loads of dinners.
Thanks for the tasty suggestion! 🙂
Pleasure!
Intriguing. Not in the main vege patch, I’m thinking, but I want to try this. Does it need any support?
Hi Janet, no, it’s a sturdy old thing-v.impressive for an annual.
I used to have one of these once, I grew it for the coloured leaves, seedlings still pop up around the garden years later.
Yes, it does that all over my garden too. I love it!
I have nominated your blog for The Liebster Award! I hope you don’t mind? Check out my blog for info! Vix..xx
Many thanks Gardening Vix!
Now that is an AWESOME plant. I will have to ry them next year!
Hi BR, I think it should grow nice and big over in Missouri!
woow.. Lovley leaves 🙂
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Håkan ( The Roseman)
Hi Hakan, sorry not to be in Sweden for you Saturday show off!
Is this the plant that used to be called Orache? I had it in a sunnier garden and loved it, I’ve also seen it grown as a specimen in a lovely herefordshire garden where there were a clump on their own. No hope in a shady \ondon garden I fear.
What time of the year do you grow them and is it inside or out
Hi Mandy, C. giganteum is a hardy annual, so I usually sow it at the same time as my lettuce seeds in spring-roughly inside in March or outside from April, depending on the weather of course!
Interesting to read everyone’s experiences with tree spinach. I bought a plant about 3 years ago but never got round to planting it out, despite this it reached a height of about 1 metre in the greenhouse. I put the seed heads in an envelope when I tidied up at the end of the season & forgot about them. I recently sprinkled a generous layer of the tiny, dust-like seeds in pots of compost, pretty convinced that the seed had not properly ripened. But a mass of vigorous little seedlings soon popped up! So, it is clearly easy to save seed if you do not want to rely on self sown seedlings. I look forward to actually eating some this year, also trying the caribbean leaf green “calalloo” this year.
Good day to you from the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Oregon). Some of these showed up as stow aways from potted plants we obtained from a neighbor. Never knew what they were until we used the Google Lens app to identify them. Now I’m an expert! The grow 2.5 meters tall before they set seed. Plucking the leaves is laborious but rewarding. We’ll be saving seeds for cooking as their closest relative is quinoa.