Try growing: Warrigal Greens (Tetragonia tetragonoides)

Recently I've found myself talking with quite a few people who have vege gardens, and who really want to grow edible plants on the land that's available to them. The one plant we invariably seem to have in common is the wonderful Warrigal Greens (Tetragonia tetragonoides). It's a fleshy spinach-like groundcover that will do well in most vegetable gardens and can also make an attractive low-growing herbal border. 

If you haven't tried growing it yet, you really should! It's easy to obtain and to grow, and will be very forgiving of even quite 'enthusiastic' harvesting. Here are a couple of shots:

Warrigal Greens growing as a border plant. Image by Tracee Lea ©.

Not a plant grown for its flower.
Image by Tracee Lea ©.

The leaves and tender stems of Warrigal Greens are the bits to eat. Harvest at any time there are enough leaves to gather. 

Freshly harvested Warrigal Greens - yummo! Image by Alison Mellor ©.

You can just steam the leaves and eat them, use them in cooked dishes as well as or instead of spinach, or you can get a bit more creative. Here's a recipe for Warrigal Greens Pesto recently shared by Tracee Lea: 

Warrigal Greens Pesto

Ingredients

250g Warrigal Greens

1cup of Parsley

200g Macadamia nuts

2 tablespoons of lime juice

1 tablespoon of honey

3/4cup of parmesan cheese, grated

50 mls Macadamia nut oil

2 cloves of garlic

Method

Rinse the Warrigal Greens in cold water. Pull leaves off the stem and soak in boiling water for 3-5 mins. (This will remove the oxates from the leaves). Strain the leaves and rinse in cold water. Peel the garlic.

Measure and add everything to the blender and blend until the macadamia nuts are like a paste. There will be small pieces of nut visible and that’s ok. Store in the fridge until ready to eat on damper.

Happy growing, cooking and eating!