Purple Orache Mom of the Year

[digitS']

She's kind of pretty, don't you think? The leaves are still tender. I had several smaller plants for lunch .

She is mostly out-of-the-way altho' I will put a stake beside her to hold her upright and that will also allow me to pull the hose around without knocking her down. The carrots will stay in that bed for much of the season and she has several kale companions. Just down the path are a couple of the "Dinosaur Kale" that I'm trying this year.

She is known as Mountain Spinach altho' I'm not sure why. You can see the relationship to the spinach cousin, Lambsquarters, also know as Goosefoot. "Orache" is spelled with or without the "e."

The Purple Orache was the earliest annual from the veggie garden this year, just like usual. I had bok choy out of the hoop house earlier but this tender spinach relative has provided several nice harvests, all for the price of dealing with the volunteers from 2012. They weren't much bother altho' they showed up in great numbers. I have had Orache in the garden for a good 10 years and wouldn't want to be without it. That's why, I have found room for the Mom of the Year.

Steve

 

[baymule]

That sure is a pretty Mom of the Year!!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Dinosaur kale is my favorite of the different kinds of kale and the rabbits will never refuse Dinosaur kale, but they have to be desperate to eat Russian red kale. They do like the blue curled Scotch kind.

 

[digitS']

Okay, I'm wrong.

And, it isn't just because I think that I've more sophisticated tastes than a rabbit . No, I believe that I've got Russian kale so I'm using the wrong term: dinosaur. These are all new to me. See, your suspicions are correct -- I was around before the dinosaurs!

I have no experience with any other than the Scotch kale and then grew the Portuguese kale last year. These are both, along with collards, members of the cabbage species. The Russian and Siberian kales are Brassica napus.

So, the other kales, and that includes the Italian types and "dinosaur" are Brassica oleracea. Russian and Siberian kales are Brassica napus. That means that Russian and Siberian kales are closely related to rutabagas . .

!

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I had never heard of dinosaur until I was read an article about eating bitter greens. I think it was Dr. Oz. I looked for bitter greens and somewhere found dinosaur kale on the list, but I can't find it right now, so I wanted to grow some and found that I already had it under a different name. I called mine Italian kale. It also is Lacinato, Tuscan kale or black kale. I did not want to miss out on growing the most special best kale, so I planted several kinds.

 

[digitS']

I was kind of okay with not having kale for several years but I'm happy to have it back again for about 5 or 6 years.

Scotch kale. These others -- I've never tried, not once.

Majorcatfish grows Miner's Lettuce (Claytonia) . . . ? I made the mistake of thinking I'd like Witloof Chicory as a winter green. I enjoyed roasting the roots and making a coffee substitute. That was fun but this was before I'd even seen Radicchio (a relative) in the restaurants and realized that I had the same opinion of that one - too bitter! Should have known better, I would never eat the Endive at the restaurant either (1 more relative).

So, if Miners Lettuce gets enuf favorable reviews, I can try that. Mache was a real nice salad green I had about 15 years ago. It seemed very particular about when it wants to grow, however. I don't believe anyone is saying that it is a wonderfully nutritious veggie. It is very mild - more mild than lettuce!

But Orache . . . if you like spinach - and hey, spinach bolts to seed so easily here. I find it a little frustrating to grow. Orache, just does its own thing. I can move it around a little and I have planted the seed and that gives it a little longer season but it already does better than spinach for me. Just have to put up with a mother plant and all the tiny seedlings that will be at her feet when I first begin work in the garden .

Steve

 

[bj taylor]

i have never heard of orache. is it a group of greens, a specific specie? where do you get it? is it heat tolerant?

 

[digitS']

I don't know about heat tolerant, BJ. Probably, not very . . .

I think this is Lesa's favorite seed source. They have a couple of varieties of orache: www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-orach-seeds.html

Territorial Seed has it but I think I got it from Johnny's quite a few years ago. I've never ordered seed from these people but they have 5 varieties: Wild Garden Seed (link).

Steve
oh and yes, it is a separate species of its own altho' related to spinach.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have never heard of Orache either, but I have something that looks like your plant. I bought Purple Passion Spinach and it is kind of growing okay. I just looked and I think it is the same as Orache. I also bought Red Malabar spinach. I have not planted any of that yet. I am trying to find things for the rabbits too and bought Radicchio. By your description of it I have a feeling I am not going to like it, so I hope the rabbits do.

 

[digitS']

Whoa! I think you are right Gwr!

I see Purple Passion on a google search and it does look like a variety of the orach. (I should change up the spelling, with & without the "e" since it seems to be more popular to spell is without. You should know that I often "try" to spell spinach with an "e' -- spinache. I wonder if there is a similar word origin . . .)

Malabar Spinach?? I grew it in my hoop house one year. If I remember right, started it in the greenhouse and transplanted to the hoop house beds. Pulled the plastic film off the hoops once it warmed up - about this time of year. It had a trellis to climb on and did only, okay. The story on it is that it really needs warm weather to make any growth.

Steve