A genuine spinach substitute for summer, per the crop database's own description, tolerating heat noticeably better than true spinach. It shares a broader plant family with chard and Good King Henry on this hub, but is its own distinct genus -- no cross-pollination risk with either, despite the resemblance.
Water need
Genuinely more drought-tolerant than true spinach -- part of what makes it a real summer alternative rather than just a heat-tolerant curiosity.
Calories at a glance
190 kcal/kg -- grown for its heat tolerance and colourful leaves rather than calorie density (scale is log-based across all 55 core crops in the calculator).
Temperature Range by Month
Month on the bottom, temperature up the side. The pale green background is what the plant can survive at all -- fatal above or below it, labelled directly on the chart where that applies to your zone. The coral band is its ideal range, and only fades in during the months this zone would actually have the crop in the ground -- reusing the exact same sowing/harvesting data as the calendar further down the page. The blue line is real monthly climate data (not a modelled estimate) for a representative rural/agricultural location in this zone -- a small farming town or agricultural research station rather than a major city, to avoid the warmer bias city weather stations have. For the actual verdict on how well this crop does in your zone, see the badge at the top of the page -- that's based on the site's own researched yield figures, not this chart.
Quick Start: Sowing to Storage
- Sow direct once it's warm. Sow direct once frost risk has passed -- orache establishes readily and grows quickly in warm conditions.
- Thin to final spacing. Thin seedlings once established -- orache can grow surprisingly tall and needs room to develop.
- Harvest young leaves regularly. Pick young leaves from the top of the plant as needed -- younger leaves are more tender than older, lower ones.
- Keep picking through summer heat. Continue harvesting right through the hottest months, when true spinach would already have bolted.
- Let a few plants flower for next year's seed. Allow some plants to flower and set seed toward the end of the season if you want to save your own for next year.
Sowing & Harvesting Calendar
Pick your zone under "Temperature Range by Month" above and this updates too. Every window here sits in the warmer months -- consistent with orache's role as a summer, not winter, leafy green.
Calories & Yield
Tropical gives the best yield here, and every zone shows at least a challenging window.
| Climate Zone | Yield per plant | Calories per plant | Viability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical / Humid | 2.5 kg | 475 kcal | Viable -- best yield |
| Subtropical | 2.0 kg | 380 kcal | Viable |
| Mediterranean | 2.0 kg | 380 kcal | Viable |
| Temperate Maritime | 1.8 kg | 342 kcal | Viable |
| Temperate Continental | 1.8 kg | 342 kcal | Viable |
| Cool / Boreal | 0.72 kg | 136.8 kcal | Challenging (60% yield) |
| Arid / Semi-Arid | 0.72 kg | 136.8 kcal | Challenging (60% yield) |
| Highland / Alpine | 0.72 kg | 136.8 kcal | Challenging (60% yield) |
Figures per plant sown, from the site's own crop database. Boreal, Arid and Alpine already reflect the 60% penalty applied to challenging zones.
Varieties Worth Knowing
Orache (also called mountain spinach) is grown mainly for leaf colour -- the three main types are purely a matter of which colour suits your garden and plate. All the varieties below are open-pollinated (OP), meaning seed saved from them breeds true and is worth keeping under this site's seed-saving approach; none are F1 hybrids.
Seed Saving -- Quick Guide
Orache is wind-pollinated, and its red and green forms will readily cross with each other if grown together and allowed to flower -- worth knowing if you want to keep the red colour true.
SERVINGS, NOT DAILY CALORIES This works out plate-sized servings of orache from your seed during its fresh harvest window only, not your group's full daily calorie needs. For that, use the main calculator.
Estimated for your selected zone above, using this site's own germination, loss and yield figures for orache -- a helping is roughly what you'd put on a plate as part of a meal with other veg. Treat it as a planning estimate, not a promise.
Storage & Preservation
Fresh leaves keep for about a week refrigerated -- similar to chard, its distant relative.
For longer-term preservation, it blanches and freezes reasonably well, though it's most valued as a continuous fresh summer harvest rather than something to bank for later.
Growing Orache Without Bought Inputs
Genuinely tough and low-maintenance once established -- few serious pests bother it in a home garden setting.
Slugs on young seedlings are about the main early-stage risk.
Hand-picking slugs at dusk while plants are small is a simple, genuinely effective input-free measure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does orache cross-pollinate with chard or Good King Henry?
No -- despite all three sharing the broader Amaranthaceae family, orache is its own genus, Atriplex, genuinely distinct from chard/beetroot (Beta) and Good King Henry (Blitum). Different genera don't cross under ordinary garden conditions.
Why does orache beat true spinach in summer?
Because it genuinely tolerates heat better, per the crop database's own description. True spinach bolts quickly once summer heat sets in; orache keeps producing usable leaves through conditions that would already have finished off a spinach crop.
Is orache the same as true spinach?
No -- orache (Atriplex hortensis) and true spinach (Spinacia oleracea) are different genera entirely. It's called a spinach substitute purely for how it's cooked and eaten, the same pattern as several other crops on this hub.