Seeds of Palak, All Green spinach beet (Beta vulgaris var. bengalensis) — 100 pcs

Palak from seed

Palak is the leafy green of saag and palak paneer. Botanically the Indian plant is a leaf beet, Beta vulgaris var. bengalensis, rather than the spinach of European gardens. All Green is a cut-and-come-again type selected by IARI: uniformly green, tender leaves on a purple central stem that can be cut six or seven times from a single sowing.

How to sow

1. What you sow is a corky cluster holding several seeds, so expect small groups of seedlings and thin them early.
2. Plant the clusters a little over a centimetre deep, a bit deeper in dry soil, with 30 cm between rows and 15 cm between the plants you keep.
3. The soil should be between 10 and 29 °C; at 25 °C seedlings appear in about five days.

Growing in Europe

Sow in spring and again from late summer, as palak prefers cool, mild weather and tends to bolt in long, hot days. Rich, free-draining ground in sun and regular watering keep the leaves tender. The first leaves are ready in about 40 days; pick the outer leaves and leave the heart, and the plant keeps producing for six or seven pickings, roughly every two and a half weeks.

Questions