How to Grow Spinach

Harvest spinach longer with timely plantings and a mix of varieties.

Launch Gallery

by Lucy Apthorp LeskeApril 1997from issue # 8

There was a meter when I had to piece and misrepresent my full Spinacia oleracea craw in two week . Depending on how much I ’d planted , that could mean eating it day by day . The first batch was always a much foresee , mouth - watering goody , a far cry from the store - bought spinach we ’d been eating all wintertime . By the end of the poor harvest time of year in June , however , I felt like a used - railcar salesman when I hawked spinach for dinner party .

Now things are different . I can harvest spring Spinacia oleracea over a considerably long period — from late April to former June — and in quantities we can easily consume in a meal . I also get a fall craw . This is n’t a suit of new and improved spinach varieties at work . Credit goes to a combination of timed plantings jibe with the right motley or cultivars . In short , I ’ve learned to finesse the spinach harvest . Spinach keeps a tight schedule . Since I begin originate veggie 15 years ago , spinach plant has been the heart of my early give garden . Spinach demand temperature of 45 ° to 70 ° farad to germinate and produce thick lot of sweet , juicy leaves . Any colder , and the spinach wo n’t develop ; any warmer , and it run off .

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At first , I staggered my spring sowings to stretch the June harvest . I sowed seed about two week aside from mid - April until mid - May . In my Nantucket garden , however , the right temperature range for prickly-seeded spinach lasts only about two calendar month .

No matter how early I set forth or how far apart the sowings , the harvest still bunched up in June . Sometimes the former sowings would sprint from pint - size of it to bolting without ever producing harvestable leaves .

It postulate me a few years to learn how to get prickly-seeded spinach growing in the garden sooner and take good vantage of nerveless weather . The first thing I figured out was how to utilise different varieties to stretch the harvest time of year . Most spinach plant matures in about 45 days , unlike , say , Indian corn or tomato plant , which have wide - run adulthood docket . prefer different varieties , therefore , does not by itself stagger adulthood date and lengthen the crop time of year .

Instead , spinach mixed bag are secern principally by their resistance to run off , downy mildew , or cold . This countenance me to agree varieties with the time of the year they will be actively growing .

For example , ‘ melodic line ’ and ‘ Tyee ’ tolerate the cold because they germinate in cold soil and defy disease well . ‘ Indian SummerT ’ , ‘ Steadfast ’ , and ‘ Bloomsdale ’ tolerate the heat better and baulk decamp for a week or more longer than the moth-eaten - tolerant multifariousness . Most spinach variety taste about the same if spring up well .

A scheme for all season . In addition to growing different smorgasbord , I have developed aplanting strategythat covers much of the year . In late February , I start out by sowing a few twelve plants worth of moth-eaten - tolerant cum indoors in six - packs . In belated March , I imbed the seedlings straight off in land inside a cold frame in the garden . I plant in little pot , having establish that about three twelve plants in 6 ft . of row will provide 8 to 10 helping of spinach and several salad .

Also in late March , I sow another 6 ft . of quarrel of the same varieties alongside the transplants . The cold bod protect the seeds and seedlings from late wintertime weather . As before long as soil can be worked , I sow twice directly in the open garden , usually in mid - April and then again in recent April . Because these last planting will mature in late June , I take bolt - immune kind . I also plant them where they ’ll receive a little afternoon shadowiness from my shrub , which helps forestall bolt .

Then , I take hold off sowing for several months to avoid the hot , non - spinach month of July and August . issue forth mid - August , to prepare for a agile fall crop , I ’ll commence more seed in six - packs for transplanting in the garden . at long last , in belated September , I scatter the source of a cold - tolerant variety over a 3 - ft.-square secret plan in the garden . Spinach seedlings are exceedingly dauntless , even in my garden , and some varieties will last over the wintertime with just a bit of help . I attempt to sow the seeds where they ’re most likely to receive late winter and early natural spring sun . Once seedling are up and temperature cast off below freeze at night , I cover the seedling with stubble mulch for the winter . In spot where snow cover is reliable all winter , mulch is n’t necessary .

The race against pest . The real originate period for spinach plant is so short and at such a cool prison term of the year that pests are not usually a trouble . So once plants are up and growing , I rarely interfere except to thin seedlings and displume weeds . I tend to grow spinach thickly , leaving works about 2 in . aside . However , I have had trouble in the past with leafage miners , flies that lie ball on spinach leaves in mid - May . The eggs hatching and the larvae tunnel through the leaves , ruining the crop . To prevent the flies from reaching the prickly-seeded spinach , help shadow the later spring crop , and reduce the amount of dirt that spatters on the leaves during rain violent storm , I cut through my spinach with rowing binding fabric from other May on .

An eye - popping harvest home . My Spinacia oleracea organization produces its first leaves for salad around mid - April , from the wintered - over sowing . If the early spring is really cold and rainy , I now and again cover the crop I sowed in the drop with a clear plastic tent to speed it up . I harvest individual , tabu leaf with a quick plait and pinch when they are about 3 in . long , leaving at least six central leaves stay on the works to continue photosynthesizing . I do n’t glean whole plants unless I ’m slim the row .

Spinacia oleracea plants go by so quickly from adolescence to matureness that a exclusive plant ’s ability to produce magnanimous , succulent leaves survive only a yoke of weeks . Once a plant life bolts , I discontinue picking its leaves and , often , just pull the whole matter .

My spinach system may seem to demand much planning and organized behavior . But , strangely , I do not consider myself a very unionized nurseryman . Although I have learned over the year that the good gardens do require some planning , I ’ve chance that habitual puttering drives winner . Visiting the garden briefly every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , popping in seeds or plants wherever there ’s an chance , and growing small batches of backup seedlings indoors year - rung yields a Spinacia oleracea craw we can relish at our leisure .

In the kitchen :

•Picking and Preserving Spinach

Spinach recipes:•Wilted Spinach and Basil Salad•Creamed Spinach•Crepes with Spinach Filling

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