Native spinach found in Sydney
February 3rd, 2009 by trinatuneToday, when I was taking my son to his swimming lesson, I spotted some native spinach (Warrigal Greens) growing next to the pool’s car park.
A month back I wrote about finding native spinach at Smiths Lakes and I was annoyed with myself for not taking a clipping to plant back in my garden. Ever since, I have been on the lookout for native spinach in Sydney.
It was by sheer accident while I was getting the pram out of the boot that I saw the little green plants growing by my feet. They looked a lot healthier than the specimens at Smiths Lake, no doubt due to better soil and some shade.
I pulled up a few plants and transplanted them into pots back home. I have great plans for these little beauties. I want to use them to create an edible ground cover over some of the less productive sections of my garden.
I must admit spotting native edibles is quite exciting and something I could get addicted to. Anyone know of any other good edible natives that people can find growing wild in their local areas?
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Most of the Lillipillis in Sydney are the large bright pink variety that are simply delicious. Great in jams, stewed in cakes, or fresh for a sweet yet tart taste. I need to come get some seeds as the fruit down this way growing wild is non edible, only the birds like it.
G’day how’s it going? Just came across your blog. In this week’s age they had a feature in ‘Epicure’, about Melbourne chefs using wild weeds in cooking. Some of those might grow up Sydney way as well. Suss it out. They might even do a similar story in the SMH soon.
As luck would have it, just a week after ordering warrigal green seeds http://www.greenharvest.com.au/seeds/vegetables_d_l.html I found it growing in a local reserve. Look under the trees near riverbanks and similar places.
As with silverbeet it isn’t a good idea to eat a lot of it raw in salads because of the oxalic acid content. Steam or boil it and then tip the water out when it cools on your garden. It is great in Quiche Lorraine (Quich Warrigal?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiche as it retains a bit more texture.
It seeds easily (lumpy spiky looking things) but can also be grown from vegetative cuttings or by pulling up a bit with roots. Keep it moist and sheltered from full sun until it takes.
It seems to grow quite happily in amongst fallen casuarina needles which seem to have an allopathic (germination inhibiting) effect on a lot of other plants.
Yes, it grows really easily. I just pulled some up from a public car park and transplanted it into my garden. It seems to grow well in shade and sun and is also making a great ground cover. It grows really fast too!
There are many natives that offer the added benefits of being edible. Lemon verbena, davidson plums, and of course lilly pillies are a few.
[...] my travels into the world of native spinach, I’ve been looking into what other native edibles grow in my neighbourhood. I now know lilly [...]
Be careful, it can become invasive, It drops massive amounts of seed and takes very easily from cuttings. Contain it to a small area because it can be hard to stop. I had a small plot in my back yard and found it wasn’t for me, I didn’t like the texture.
there’s a whole list of native australian edibles here: http://jessryall.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/indigenous-meats-herbs-and-spices/