Malva verticillata
vegetable mallow
Common names: Chinese mallow, curly mallow
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 30 cm, rows 40 cm
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Sowing
- Apr–Jun
- Harvest
- Jun–Sep
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 0 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: WayneRay · Public Domain · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The vegetable mallow, botanically Malva verticillata, originates from East Asia and has been cultivated there for centuries as a spinach-like leafy green. It grows quickly as an annual, forming bushy rosettes with large, mild leaves that can be eaten raw in salads or steamed in soups. Its heat tolerance makes it a useful addition to summer gardens when traditional spinach is already harvested. The tender leaves contain mucilage that naturally thickens soups without the need for cream or flour.
Care instructions
Provide the vegetable mallow with a sunny to partially shaded location and loose, fertile soil. Keep the soil consistently moist; dry conditions cause the leaves to become tough and trigger premature flowering. Harvest young leaves continuously from the outer edges, which encourages new growth and delays flowering. Pinching back the shoot tips keeps the plant compact and yields tender leaves for culinary use. Mulching around the plant helps retain soil moisture, especially during hot summer weeks.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingApr–Jun
HarvestJun–Sep
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 8 °C, ideally 18 °C
- Days to sprout
- 7 to 14 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
nutrient-rich, humus-rich, well-drained, lime-loving
Curled mallow likes loose, humus-rich soil with good nutrient supply, because it grows fast and lushly. It tolerates waterlogging poorly, so free-draining soil is important. It feels especially at home on slightly lime-rich soils.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
May–Jul
A dose of ripe compost at planting is usually enough to get started. During the main growing season from May to July, curled mallow appreciates an extra portion of compost or well-rotted manure. A mulch layer of grass clippings keeps the soil moist and releases a few nutrients as well.
Overwintering
Curled mallow is an annual and does not survive the winter in the bed. After the last harvest in autumn, you can put the plant remains on the compost heap. For the next season, you simply raise new plants from seed in spring.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
Sowing works directly outdoors from mid-May · week 20, as soon as frosts are no longer a threat. Cover the seeds only lightly with soil, because mallows need light to germinate. With even moisture they germinate reliably within two to three weeks. Alternatively, you can start them on the windowsill from April · week 15 and plant the young plants out after the Ice Saints (mid-May).
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