Warrigal Greens - Tetragonia tetragonioides - Care Guide
Tetragonia tetragonioides! More commonly recognised as Warrigal Greens, this leafy green is a widespread species, native to eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. A hardy spinach-like plant, you'll find it growing along sandy shorelines and bluffs, often in disturbed areas.
The leaves of Warrigal greens have a mild flavour, similar to that of english spinach. To best enjoy the leaves they need to be blanched before hand. You can cook Warrigal Greens the same as you would cook spinach. They are particularly suited to sautéing, stir-frying or even cooked in a quiche or pie.
The leaves can grow quite large. We recommend harvesting when the leaves reach roughly the size of your hand for the best cooking results.
Quick Care
| Botanical Name | Tetragonia tetragonioides |
| Size Plant: | Seedling pot, min 20 cm tall |
| Frost Tolerance: | Tolerates light frost. |
| Drought Tolerance: | Drought tolerant. |
| Soil Type: | light, sandy, loamy well drained soil |
| Sun: | Full-sun/Part-shade |
| Size: | 2m wide ground cover. |
| Pots: | Does well in pots. |
| Feeding: | Feed a high-quality native plant food every 6 months. |
Planting
For best results, plant your Warrigal Greens in light, sandy, loamy, well drained soils (it can also survive in poorer soils) and place your plant in full sun. You can also grow in part shade for reasonable results. This dense, green ground cover can attain a width of up to 2m. It's the perfect plant for a garden ground cover.
Frost tolerance
As it's only able to handle light frost you'll want keep your plant sheltered. If you live in a cooler climate like Melbourne keeping your plant well protected is super important, so we recommend offering it extra protection during winter.
Sunlight
This lovely species does well in full sun but it can thrive in part sun.
Maintenance
Watering & Drought Tolerance
As relatively drought hardy species you wont have to tend to Warrigal greens too much. However if you want them looking their best (lush and green) regular feeding and watering is recommended. During wintertime, you can hold back on watering but as the temperature increases ensure that you're keeping your Warrigal Greens well watered. When dry, it will wilt which is a good indication of when to water.
Although drought-tolerant once established, it will need additional watering in the summer.
Fertilising your Warrigal Greens
For lush green leaves we recommend feeding your plant every Spring with a dose of cow manure or organic fertiliser if you don’t have great soil. Fertilising with high-quality, plant food during winter and summer will result in a plant with deep green foliage.
Harvesting
Harvesting should be done when the leaves reach roughly the size of your hand for the best cooking experience.
Growing Warrigal Greens in pots
Use a high-quality potting mix without fillers or additives and add your own plant food for the highest success.