Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-328
Common Purslane Golden
Portulaca oleracea subsp sativa
Purslane is a low, succulent salad green that keeps producing through the hottest, driest weeks of summer on almost no water, thanks to a photosynthesis trick that lets it handle heat, drought and salt together rather than one at a time. The tangy, mucilaginous leaves and stems are eaten raw or cooked, ready to cut six to eight weeks after sowing and then continuously all summer. It also spreads into a low mat that shades bare soil the way mulch does, except this mulch is also lunch. Left alone it self-sows freely and becomes a permanent volunteer wherever the ground is open and sunny.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained
Vertical layer
Groundcover- Soil pH
- 5.6–7.8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 6–12 in
- Mature spread
- 12–30 in
- Plant spacing
- 12 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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Beach Strawberry
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Bilberry
Vaccinium myrtillus
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Black Medick
Medicago lupulina
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Carpet Bugle
Ajuga reptans
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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