New Zealand Spinach / Espinaca Nueva Segunda

New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides) is a wonderful leafy green for warm climates and one of the plants I especially like because it keeps producing when ordinary spinach struggles with heat. Despite its name, it is not actually a true spinach, but the thick, tender green leaves are used in much the same way. It grows as a spreading, somewhat trailing plant, gradually covering the ground with succulent stems and fleshy triangular leaves.

The leaves are highly nutritious and provide chlorophyll, vitamin C, vitamin A precursors, folate, magnesium, potassium and other minerals. They can be harvested young and added to salads in small amounts, or cooked just as you would spinach. The slightly succulent nature of the leaves gives them a pleasant texture, and cooking softens them beautifully for soups, eggs, vegetables and savoury dishes. Because the leaves naturally contain oxalates, they are traditionally cooked or blanched when eaten in larger quantities.

New Zealand Spinach is also a very useful plant for the garden itself. Its spreading growth helps cover bare soil, protecting the soil surface from intense sun and reducing moisture loss. As it grows, it creates a living layer over the ground, which fits beautifully into a garden where we want soil to remain covered, biologically active and protected.

It loves warmth and is much more tolerant of hot weather than traditional spinach. Give it fertile, living soil with plenty of organic matter, regular moisture and good drainage. It grows happily in full sun or partial shade and will spread outward once established, so give it a little room. Regular harvesting encourages it to keep producing fresh young growth.

New Zealand Spinach is easy, productive and generous. It gives us a steady supply of fresh green leaves through warm weather while also helping shade and protect the soil beneath it. It is a wonderful plant for a kitchen garden, food forest or edible groundcover, and once established it can become one of those dependable greens you keep returning to again and again.