Spinach is an eatable blossoming industrial plant from the goosefoot family and was native to Asia . Spinach is a popular vegetable loaded with nutritional economic value and considered by nutritionary expert to be a “ super food” . Superfoodsare nutrient that are known to help cut down cholesterin , the risk of heart disease and cancer . Spinach is gamey in vitamin K , Folate , Vitamin A , ascorbic acid , and Beta Carotene . It also contains branding iron , calcium and is a great anti - oxidant .
Spinach can be prepared in a variety show of ways admit both cooked and sensitive . It is a very stalwart cool - season vegetable that grow well in the home garden and can be planted at multiple times for consecutive harvest ( both in saltation and fall ) .
Conditions for Growing Spinach
Spinach is nerveless season vegetable that can tolerate colder conditions and frosts . Spinach needs full to part - Sunday and moist , organically fat soil . Spinach does not grow well in highly acidulous soils and perform good with a pH range of 6.3 - 6.8 . Adding lime to your grease may be necessary . To determine your soil condition prior to any amendments , have a territory mental testing perform . Your local University Extension office can perform a soil trial .
Planting Spinach
Spinach is a very cold - hardy plant life and can be sown directly into the garden as before long as the soil can be act in the spring . In southern state , spinach seedling or seeds from the prior season may begin growing again in former spring , even with snow still on the reason ! If you sow successively ( every few weeks ) you may enjoy your Spinacia oleracea over a longer period of time . Seeds should be plant about 1/2 an in in the grease and spaced about 2 - 4 inches asunder in wrangle 18 - 24 inches aside .
It is effective to sow newly purchased source , and not semen saved from the last growing season . Sow about 15 - 20 seeds per each linear metrical foot of grunge . Water the seeds well after implant . If your grunge has a high level of organic topic , fertiliser is not necessary ; if not , a fertilizer gamey in atomic number 7 should be mixed into the grime during planting . Once the plants bulge out to grow , you’re able to lose weight them to about 4 inches apart . Placing top mulch down will serve to conserve wet .
Photo good manners ofSbocajat Flickr.com .
Care for Spinach Plants
Spinach should receive about an inch of water per workweek . If there has been little rain you may add on by bridge player lachrymation . As your spinach grows you will probably need to reduce the seedlings , unless you are harvesting the plants at the same clock time ( as well as the total plant ) Be careful not to disturb the other plants theme as you pull .
Weed as necessary but , again , be careful not to disrupt the fragile and shallow base system of the spinach . Adding a side bandaging of N every 2 - 3 week will help ensure a sound harvest with deep light-green leaves .
Harvesting Spinach
Spinach takes about 40 - 50 days to ripen . Your individual orientation will also determine when you reap the parting . Some masses choose to eat smaller leaves , others larger . If you do not harvest the entire plant , pick the outer foliage first . The inner leaves will continue to grow and can be harvest after .
Spinach will not keep for long after harvest home . The dear time to eat on them , both for flavor and alimentary value , is right after picking . Be sure to wash the leaves well before eating . Spinach can be stored in the icebox for a few day ( wash and dry them first ) if you do not eat them right away .
Spinach Diseases and Pests
Varieties of Spinach
The University of Illinois horticulture department ’s internet site , Watch Your Garden Grow , recommends trying the following varieties :
crumple - Leaf
Bloomsdale Long Standing ( 48 day to harvest ; thick , very crinkly , shiny dark green leaves)Winter Bloomsdale ( 45 days , patient of to cucumber mosaic virus , irksome to bolt , cold patient of , dependable for over - wintering )
Hybrid Savoy
Indian Summer ( 39 solar day ; semi - savoy ; repellent to downy mildew race 1 and 2 , tolerant to spinach blight)Melody ( 42 days ; gently crinkled ; insubordinate to downy mildew , mosaic ; near fountain or fall)Tyee ( 39 days ; dismal green ; intemperately savoyed ; large-minded to downy mildew ; spring , fall or winter)Vienna ( 40 days ; very savoyed ; medium to long - standing ; kind to downy mildew race 1 and 2 as well as spinach blight )
Plain - Leaf
Giant Nobel ( 43 days ; large , smooth leaves ; long - standing ) .
unpatterned - Leaf Hybrid
Olympia ( 46 days ; dull to bolt ; spring , summertime harvest ) .
Common Questions and Answers About How to Grow Spinach
Can I plant spinach with tomatoes?
Planting spinach in between your rows of Lycopersicon esculentum is a bang-up way to make the most of your garden space . With some careful and cagey scheduling , the timing works out highly well for growing spinach in between your rows of tomatoes . Because Lycopersicon esculentum are a ardent - weather harvest while spinach bed the cooler atmospheric condition , by the sentence your spinach has mature and been harvested , the tomato plants will just be begin to stretch out out . That means your Spinacia oleracea will be out of the garden long before the tomato plants raise large enough to encroach on the greens .
Can lettuce and spinach be planted together?
Lettuce and spinach make a lifelike conjugation because the two types of plants need so many of the same experimental condition , have similar care predilection , and fly high in the meek , coolheaded seasons . The only thing to consider when growing so much tender , delicious verdure in one place is that slugs , caterpillars , rabbits , and other creatures that wish to eat salad greens as much as we do will be attracted . If these kind of blighter are a concern in your arena , you might consider adding a some marigold plant to assist deter insects or employ some of the method covered in our articleHow to Keep Pests From Your Garden .
Can you grow spinach from a leaf?
You ca n’t develop spinach plant from a leaf unless you purchased a bunch that still has the origin attached to the stems of the plant . If you have the roots still intact , you could plainly constitute the base with the bottom portions of the stem like a shot into the grime and water them and spinach plant should regrow from the radical bases .
Can you harvest spinach multiple times?
Yes , if harvest decently , spinach can acquire back multiple time throughout the growing season up until the atmospheric condition suffer too tender for spinach to produce , at which point , the flora will begin to beetle off . To harvest spinach properly , utilise a twain of scissors hold or garden shears to abridge the spinach go out back to within 2 inch of the ground . Do not snub into the develop point , or you may damage the industrial plant so that it will not regrow . The leaf should regrow for a second harvest within four hebdomad after the first press cutting .
How can I grow spinach without seeds?
Spinach can be grown without seeds by using transplants of either seedlings or stem bottoms that still have the roots attached . just plant the radical into stain and body of water to grow and prove young spinach plants .
How do you know when spinach is ready to harvest?
Most prickly-seeded spinach varieties mature within 37 to 45 twenty-four hour period and can be harvest as before long as it has formed a rose window with five or six leave . When the out leaf are about six inches long , they ’re ready to be harvested . You may also choose to harvest the leafage well before they gain six in , as baby spinach leave are sweeter and have a more crank texture , but your return will be significantly smaller . If it is late fountain , and the plant life are nearing the ending of the season when they are likely to make off , you could trim and glean the full flora at this point . spinach plant leave should be removed within a week of full leaf geological formation before they get yellow .
How long does it take to grow spinach?
originate spinach occupy about 45 Clarence Day , from the time seeded player are sown in the primer until the time the plant are ready to harvest .
How long should I soak spinach seeds before planting?
Start your soaking about 10 days before you ’ll sow your spinach come , and set aside the seeds to soak in lukewarm water for 24 hour . Dry them on composition towels for a day or two , then move them to a sealed airtight container and stash them in a cool , dry property for the workweek before plant .
How much spinach does one plant yield?
The fruit of spinach is calculated either per 10 - foot row of plants or as how many plants should be grown per extremity of the kinfolk who will be eating spinach plant . A 10 - understructure wrangle of spinach flora will grow four to seven Lebanese pound of spinach plant , and gardener should plant 15 spinach plant plants per person in their family who will be eating spinach .
Should spinach seeds be soaked before planting?
Yes , soaking your spinach seeds before planting is a good estimation to aid speed up the process of sprouting . About one calendar week before planting , dowse your spinach seed in warm water supply for 24 hours . Then , place your crocked spinach plant seeds onto a paper towel and allow them to dry in the capable air at elbow room temperature for one or two days . After they have dried , move your seeds to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator until you are quick to plant , but no longer than one workweek . This physical process is holler primer coat , and its purpose is to facilitate encourage speedy sprouting once you plant the cum in the solid ground . Unprimed spinach plant seeds typically take about 10 twenty-four hours to evolve , whereas primed seeds by and large take only five days .
What is the best temperature for growing spinach?
Spinacia oleracea thrives in coolheaded weather , and it does better when temperatures outride under 75 stage Fahrenheit during the day . In most component of the humankind , that means premier time for maturate spinach is in the spring and in the downfall . green plants will start going to seed if they ’re discover to temperatures under 40 degrees , but once prickly-seeded spinach has suppurate , it can withstand chilly weather down to 20 degrees .
What is the best way to grow spinach?
Getting off to a good outset is the most significant component when it comes to arise great Spinacia oleracea . embed the right varieties for your climate and take clock time to go the dirt in preparation before institute , amending it with everything it needs to allow your spinach flora to thrive throughout the growing season . inseminate early and often with a N sonorous fertilizer . Keep the dirt moist at all time and render a bit of shade if temperatures surface up to 80 degrees or higher . Spinach industrial plant do very well in containers as well as raised bed .
What temperature is too cold for spinach?
Before spinach plants are entirely ripe , temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit or low can make the plant to bolt and go to seed . However , once the plant have matured , prickly-seeded spinach can cover temperatures all the way down to 20 degrees without a problem .
Can spinach be grown from cuttings?
If the cuttings of Spinacia oleracea you have let in the solution , it is easy to get spinach from press clipping . However , most of the clock time mass sow Spinacia oleracea seed rather of using cutting because the needed return of spinach relieve oneself cuttings inconvenient . Spinacia oleracea seed are tiny and can be sow in a quick scattering , making planting spinach very easy . The speed at which spinach matures ( taking just 37 - 45 days to go from being a seed to being harvest ready ) also make time save by using cuttings a negligible concern .
What can you not plant with spinach?
Even the most pleasant of plants do n’t get along with every likely neighbour , and spinach is no dissimilar . There ’s a whole list of plants you could partner up with prickly-seeded spinach to take vantage of the benefits of companion planting ( see our reply to the question “ What grows best with spinach ? ” below for those ) , but there are also some plants that spinach plant just does n’t work well planted aboard . Here are the plants you should void placing near spinach when you ’re put down out your garden .
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