How to grow Spinach?

Spinach is one of the most common leaf vegetable crops for cool summer areas, because it is tasty, nutritious and highly productive.

Home gardeners in warmer climates often ignore spinach because it can be difficult. It seems that no sooner does it reach any size than it [bolts]. This problem can be overcome if you know its habits.

Spinach is one of the fastest yielding common crops. The harvest can start within a month of planting and it can be out of the ground within 2 months.

Spinach History

Spinach originated in Asia and reached Europe some time in the Middle Ages. It came to America with the first colonists.

Soil Preference

PH (min/max): 6.0 - 7.0
PH Ideal (min/max): 6.3 - 6.8

A light, well-drained soil works best because spinach is grown in cool weather and such soils warm up faster. The ideal soil is rich in [humus], moisture retentive, and contains lots of nitrogen and potassium.

This plant is quite sensitive to [pH] (both extremes may cause deficiency), so adjust if necessary.

Spinach is quite tolerant of saline soils.

How to care for Spinach?

Spinach must grow quickly to produce the highest quality food. This means giving it optimal conditions; as much water and nutrients as it requires and no competition from weeds or crowding neighbors (all these factors can contribute to [bolting]).

Keep the soil evenly moist (not wet) otherwise it may [bolt]. Fortunately this isn't usually a problem in the cool weather preferred by spinach.

Try to avoid splashing mud on the leaves as it can make them gritty.

Spinach needs a moderate amount of nitrogen and potassium and a fairly small amount of phosphorous.

Seed Viability: 2-4 years

Germination Percentage: 60.0

Spinach plants are dioecious (there are separate male and female plants) so all plants don't produce seed. Saving seed is fairly straightforward, you just allow a patch of plants to [bolt], which they will eventually do anyway. The first plants to bolt are males, which have smaller leaves. You don't need a lot of males, but some are necessary for fertilization (keep 1 male for every 2 females). Don't gather seed from the first females to appear, as you don't want to create an early flowering strain.

Spinach is wind pollinated and to keep it pure it must be isolated from other varieties by at least a 1/2 mile. Female plants may grow to 4 feet in height and produce a lot of seed.

Sun: min. 6 hours daily

Spinach needs full sun for good growth, particularly for a fall or over-wintering crop.

Spinach doesn’t like heat and in warmer areas it should be planted in a shady site.

Conditions:Cool

Season:Short Season, Long Season

If you have so much spinach you can't use it all, it can be frozen for later use.

Storage Req: Freezer
Storage Temp: 32°F
Storage Length: 1-180 days

Use the leaves as soon as possible after harvest, as they only last for a few days in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Storage Req: Refrigerator
Storage Temp: 35-40°F
Storage Length: 1-5 days

Problems

Leaf Miners

The commonest problem with Spinach are [Leaf miners]. These small caterpillars tunnel inside the leaves and make them useless. Remove affected leaves and rub off the egg clusters. If they are very bad you will have to use [row covers].

Bolting

Spinach will [bolt] when the day length is from 12 1/2 to 15 hours, depending upon the variety (some are more sensitive than others). As with Lettuce, warm weather (above 75˚ F) may hasten bolting, but doesn’t really cause it.

Overcrowding and [vernalization] may also cause the plants to bolt. Cool weather (below 65˚ F) may retard bolting, as can frequent harvesting of leaves. When spinach gets ready to flower, the top leaves become noticeably triangular and the stem elongates. Harvest as much as you can as soon as this starts to happen.

Spinach Types

Specialty

It is grown for its edible leaves, and can be used as food or an ornamental plant for ground cover. As some of its names signify, it has similar flavor and texture properties to spinach, and is cooked like spinach.

Savoyed-Leaf

Savoyed Leaf Spinach is gaining popularity throughout the U.S. The leaf shape is curled making it more difficult to clean. SavoyedLleaf Spinach is one of the fastest growing crops under good growing conditions.

Smooth-Leaf

Smooth Leaf Spinach is the most popular type of spinach on the West Coast. It is smooth and easy to clean. Under good growing conditions, Smooth Leaf Spinach can be one of the fastest growing crops.

Pests

Wireworm
Flea Beetle
Birds
Leafhoppers
Aphids
Leafminers
Slugs and snails
Rats and Mice
Gophers
Deer

Diseases

Anthracnose
Bacterial Spot
Curly Top
Damping Off
Downy Mildew
Root Rot

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