How to Grow Marshmallows

Marshmallows taste better when you grow them yourself. Not every gardening region can grow marshmallows successfully but they are worth the effort. Gardener Scott shows how he grows and harvests marshmallows. (Video #507)

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Is there anything better than harvesting a fresh marshmallow and enjoying it straight off the plant I don’t think so join me today as I show you how to grow marshmallows and especially how to Harvest hi I’m Gardener Scott and everybody knows that what you grow in your garden tastes much better than what you can buy in the store and I think marshmallows are exactly the same they just taste so much better when you grow them yourself especially when you can Harvest them fresh it’s April 1st

Today which means it’s time to start harvesting my marshmallows the nice thing about marshmallows is you can Harvest them at any point as soon as they start developing on the marshmallow Bush they’re sweet and they’re delicious I like to wait until they’re bigger like on April 1st to

Harvest my marshmallows and oh this one is quite special if you’re lucky occasionally you’ll get these pink marshmallows most of the time they’re white in fact most years that I get a marshmallow Harvest they’re white but occasionally about once every 5 years I get some of these pink

Ones I know gardeners who grow marshmallow bushes and claim that there’s no difference in the flavor between the White and the pink but for me there is a difference I detect almost a strawberry Flavor now it could be in my imagination it could be just the color pink makes me

Think it tastes Pinker like a strawberry but I’m convinced the pink ones just taste different most of the time the marshmallows are going to mature at the same rate so you’ll have a harvest of the big marshmallows but occasionally as I can see on this part of the plant the

Marshmallows have stayed small these are still edible they just don’t pack as much flavor and there’s not as much of the marshmallow to chew on but they’ve been stunted in their growth and that’s because of the way that the marshmallows begin growing and begin developing on this bush marshmallows have very limited

Areas where the bushes will grow well I should say the bushes will grow in many areas there’s just few regions that can actually produce an abundance for a marshmallow Harvest here in Colorado the conditions are ideal for growing and then being able to harvest the marshmallows what’s key to the

Development of this delicious marshmallow is a roller coaster of temperatures and that’s exactly what I have in Colorado we need temperatures that are very cold followed by days that are warm followed by more days that are cold and more days that are warm usually

In mid to late winter I can come out and I can see the development of the small marshmallows at the tips of the branches this type of Bush when it starts growing in some warmer conditions when it hits the cold it stops at the tip the oxin those hormones that

Normally cause a plant to keep growing they get clogged up and the tip stops growing when the days start to warm well that stimulates this marshmallow that has formed at the tip to then begin growing again and once that growth starts it doesn’t stop stop until it reaches a

Nice harvestable size now if the temperatures weren’t quite right and it only takes a day or two maybe even a few hours that growth isn’t going to continue and that’s why some of the marshmallows stay small on the plant now while I love harvesting these marshmallows especially the pink

Ones my garden dog Mala likes harvesting them as well that’s why I have this fencing around the bush it’s not to keep the deer out surprisingly the deer don’t eat the marshmallows it’s to keep Mala away from the plant because when she finds the little marshmallows lower down

She likes to chew on them and chew and chew occasionally you’ll come across a marshmallow that has split open it’s definitely reached full maturity you can still Harvest this just these split marshmallows don’t store as well and so I would recommend eating this right away marshmallows are unique in our

Garden because you may think this is the fruit of the marshmallow Bush but it isn’t remember it’s just the swollen bud at the tip of the branch there are no seeds in here you can’t plant any of these marshmallows the little ones or the big ones and expect to get the fruit

Instead you have to take a cutting from the bush and it takes many years for The Cutting to actually root and then usually many more years before those roots will get established in the ground this is the first year that I’ve had as big a harvest as this and this bush is 5

Years old and when I got it it was already already a 3-year-old plant if you can find someone who’s growing marshmallows definitely ask them if you can take a cutting if you don’t know anyone that’s growing marshmallows then go to your local nursery and ask them if they sell

Marshmallow Bush cuting often they’ll come dormant you’ll be responsible for rooting them and getting them to grow but occasionally you’ll come across a nursery that will sell you marshmallows I think it’s better to find a gardener who’s willing to share because you know more about the plant

And you know that it will survive in your region one of the reasons that you don’t find marshmallow bushes in warm climates like Florida or Arizona or South Carolina is because they don’t get that really extreme temperature range and you also probably won’t find marshmallows grow growing in Minnesota or Alaska

Because it just stays too cold too long you really need that roller coaster of the ups and downs to get the best development of this delicious Harvest I think it really does taste like strawberry I am so glad that I live in Colorado and that I can come out on April 1st

And get a basket full of fresh marshmallows check it out ask at your nursry to see if they sell them if you can get them to grow it’s worth it I’m Gardener Scott enjoy gardening so Good