Strawberry spinach

Chenopodium foliosum/capitatum blite goosefoot
Other names
blite goosefoot
Botanical name
Chenopodium foliosum/capitatum
Plant category
Leafy Vegetables

General

Strawberry spinach
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Leafy goosefoot (Chenopodium foliosum) is native to Europe, while strawberry blite (Chenopodium capitatum) comes from North America. They mainly differ in how the fruits sit on the stem.

In terms of growing and using them, they're nearly identical, which is why we're (for now) covering them together.

Facts and figures

Light requirements
Sun / partial shade
Nutrient requirements
Heavy feeder
Difficulty level
Easy
Culture (according to Gertrud Franck)
Growing period
40 days
Row spacing
25 cm
Plant spacing
20 cm
Growth height
15 - 70 cm
Sowing depth
3 cm
Germination temperature (optimal)
10 - 20 °C
Germination type
Dark

Times

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Direct sowing
Harvest

Direct sowing from Mid March to Late April. After a growing period of 40 days, harvest can begin around Early May and continues until Mid June.

Neighbourhood

Good neighbours
Bad neighbours

Crop rotation

Bad predecessors
Bad successors

Harvest and processing

You can use the leaves just like spinach – they taste very similar. You can start harvesting them about 6 weeks after sowing, right up until flowering begins. After that, they don't taste as good. The fruits ripen in August. They're edible but taste a bit bland, slightly reminiscent of beetroot. You can use them to decorate dishes. Leaves that grow fresh after fruiting taste much better again.