For a spinach substitute I grow Malabar and Swiss Chard. You have a fairly long wait for the Malabar to vine enough to produce, but I like the leaves raw or cooked. Malabar is definitely a warm weather vine, if you plant it too soon it sits and sulks. Any touch of frost and its a goner. The Malabar vine does better with regular pinching/picking, so don't be afraid to remove one leaf as soon as the plant has 4 leaves. I got very ticked off at my first planting of Malabar as it sat there for weeks with just 4 leaves. I picked a leaf from each plant and was ready to mark the experiment as a failure. Big surprise, as soon as I picked a leaf it encouraged it to branch and vine; it went from sitting there sulking with 4 leaves to branching and vining from the original apex and from the leaf removal node.

I, too, have thousands and thousands of tadpoles in my pond and I'm more worried when they mature!! Aren't they going to take over the lawn and how do I mow the grass if they do. I don't have any fish in the pond yet but am getting a few feeder goldfish. When I get some will they thin out the tadpoles? Tyvm for your help. BT

Hi Ellenr, I can't answer your question on spinach but I do have one of my own. This is my first year wsing vegetables (I want to start my square foot garden). I sowed a fresh pack of organic spinach on 3.14 and have nary a sprout. Did I sow too late? Also I will probably go to Earth Day, if you need a couple more jugs to give away I could probably come up with 2 or 3 or I could ws some more of the ones that come up real fast. Let me know. Barbara

Thanks for the reply, Gary. I'll keep an eye out for aphids and other pests. Up until now I haven't seen more than the random tiny creepy-crawly, but that leaf does look like something's been munching on it. Regarding the watering, since they're basically planted in dirt, the top layer dries out quicker than the rest of the pot. I did plant them deep, and I've been watering when 6-12 inches under the surface begins to dry. I'm going to get something to use as mulch this weekend, though. I suppose part of the problem is that since I've not done this before, I'm not sure what healthy leaves would look like under my conditions. My plants do look more robust than others I've seen planted in neighborhood gardens, so I'll keep my fingers crossed and see what happens. I still wonder about those leaves though. Regards, Matt