Abiquiu Mountain Spinach is not a true spinach at all, but rather an orach, a resilient leafy green that thrives where conventional spinach struggles. This variety arrived in seed catalogs through a gardener's discovery at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, who collected seeds and grew them out in Taos before sharing them with the wider gardening community. Unlike its namesake, this mountain spinach tolerates alkaline soils with ease, handles drought better than spinach, and produces tender leaves with a milder, more delicate flavor. Rich in vitamin C and packed with calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc, it's a nutritional powerhouse that's genuinely easier to grow than traditional spinach.
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Moderate
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Moderate
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This variety came to us through a real gardener's careful seed collecting at Ghost Ranch, then multiplied in the high deserts of Taos before reaching seed catalogs. Unlike true spinach, orach thrives in alkaline soils and shrugs off drought with grace, making it perfectly suited to challenging growing conditions. The leaves are noticeably milder and more tender than spinach, with impressive nutritional density that includes significant amounts of calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc alongside vitamin C.
Harvest young leaves for salads, where their mild flavor and tender texture shine without overpowering other ingredients. Mature leaves work beautifully sautéed or added to soups and stews, offering nutritional depth without the assertive bitterness of true spinach. The delicate flavor also makes it suitable for cooking applications where you want the vegetable to complement rather than dominate other flavors.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Direct sow seeds in spring or fall when soil temperatures are between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit for reliable germination.
Begin harvesting young leaves when plants are established, pinching or cutting from the top to encourage branching and continued production. You can harvest individual outer leaves while leaving the center to grow, or cut entire plants for salad greens. Regular harvesting promotes bushier growth and extends the productive season.
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“Abiquiu Mountain Spinach has a distinctly modern origin story rooted in New Mexico's gardening community. A gardener collected seeds from plants growing at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, then cultivated and refined them in Taos during the late 1990s. The seeds eventually reached Native Seeds/SEARCH, the Arizona-based seed organization dedicated to preserving crops adapted to the arid Southwest, which began offering the variety to home gardeners. This pathway from chance discovery to preservation reflects how regional adaptation and gardener curiosity can create locally resilient varieties.”