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New Zealand Spinach

Tetragonia tetragonioides
Also known as: Warrigal Greens, Tetragon, Sea Spinach

New Zealand Spinach is a vegetable in the Aizoaceae family. It grows best in full sun to part shade with medium moisture, and is listed for USDA zones 2-13. Plants reach harvest about 50–65 days after planting and sit about 6 inches apart.

Varieties

1 from Seeds Now · sorted by days to maturity
  • New Zealand50–65 days

    Can tolerate hot temperatures; Direct sow; Grows well with containers; Grows well with raised beds; Matures in <90 days; Start indoors

    These New Zealand spinach seeds will produce very flavorful medium triangular-shaped green spinach leaves This is one of the few spinach varieties that produces continuously all year, from spring to fall. The more you cut and use the more it will continue to grow New Zealand spinach is a large growing plant and needs 2 foot rows, 1 foot between plants And ... unlike the other spinach varieties, the New Zealand is one that can survive through the hot summers Days to Maturity | 75 days

    View on Seeds Now
Family
Aizoaceae
Category
Vegetable
Form
Rosette
Lifecycle
annual or perennial
Zone
2-13
Height
1–2 ft
Spread
2–3 ft
Sun
Full sun to part shade

Plant spacing

4 plants per square footSquare-foot planting diagram: a 1-foot square divided into a 2-by-2 grid holding 4 new zealand spinach plants spaced 6 inches apart.
4 plants per square foot

In a square-foot bed, space new zealand spinach about 6 in apart — that fits 4 plants in each 1-foot square (2×2). Wider rows or containers space the same.

Water
Medium

Plan your new zealand spinach planting

Add new zealand spinach to a free GardenDraft plan and get sow, transplant, and harvest dates computed for your ZIP code — with a drag-and-drop bed layout and reminders when it’s time to plant.

Start your free plan →

At a glance

Days to harvest
50–65 days
From transplant or sow to first harvest
Harvest style
Keep picking
Crops over several weeks
Frost tolerance
Tender · to ~32°F
Lowest temperature the foliage usually survives
Succession
Good for succession sowing
Germination
~60%
Typical minimum germination rate

Storing & preserving

Refrigerate in a bag with a paper towel; best within a week.

  • Freeze: Cooking greens freeze after blanching; salad greens don't.

General home-preservation guidance — for tested processing times and safety, follow the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Growing timeline

When to plant and harvest new zealand spinachPlanting timeline for new zealand spinach, relative to last frost: grow from 6 weeks before last frost to 1 week after last frost; harvest from 1 week after last frost to 3 weeks after last frost.GrowHarvestLast frostDirect sow
Direct-sow new zealand spinach 6 weeks before last frost; first harvest 1 week after last frost.
Outdoor planting
-42 to -21 days vs frost
Propagation
Seed
Schedule anchor
Last Frost

Companion planting — with cited sources

From US/Canada cooperative-extension publications and peer-reviewed studies. Evidence-tier dots show how strongly each recommendation is backed: ●●● peer-reviewed mechanism · ●● extension consensus · traditional knowledge with a plausible mechanism.

Pairs well with (2)

  • Common TomatoEvidence tier C: Traditional practice with plausible mechanism but limited empirical replicationweed-suppression, moisture-conservation

    Low, sprawling New Zealand spinach forms a heat-tolerant living mulch that shades soil, suppresses weeds and conserves moisture between taller summer crops like tomato.

    Source: S7

  • CornEvidence tier C: Traditional practice with plausible mechanism but limited empirical replicationweed-suppression

    Used as a groundcover beneath tall crops such as corn to suppress weeds and conserve soil moisture.

    Source: S7

Sources cited

S7
University of Minnesota Extension

Care & troubleshooting

No curated care & troubleshooting advice for new zealand spinach yet. Our extension-sourced library currently focuses on common edible crops; we're expanding it over time.