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Tasty and nutritious spinach is one of the first things you can plant in spring. Add some spinach to your garden, and you can enjoy fresh salads and stir fries before most gardeners even dust off their tools.
Growing Guide
Soil preparation: Spinach likes light, well-drained soil, so work lots of compost into your beds.
Spring planting: Sow spinach directly in the ground in early spring as soon as the soil temperature reaches 35°F.
Fall planting: Spinach has trouble germinating in soil temperatures above 70°F, which can make fall planting difficult. Before planting, shade the planting area's soil with shade cloth for a week to cool the soil. Keep the shade cloth in place after planting, too.
Spacing: Broadcast the seed in rows that are 1 to 3 feet apart. Once the seedlings emerge, thin them so they're about 4 inches apart.
Watering: Keep the plants moist, but not wet. Dry soil causes the plants to bolt.
Fertilizing: Water weekly with fish emulsion until the plants are 3 inches tall.
Special hint: To help speed up seed germination, soak your seeds in compost tea for 15 minutes to overnight before sowing them. In fall, you may need to try this trick to help seeds germinate in warm conditions: Freeze the seeds for 2 days, then remove them from the freezer, sandwich them between damp paper towels, and seal them in a plastic bag. Refrigerate the seeds for five to seven days before planting.
Pest Watch If your spinach leaves have light-color tunnels or blotches running through them, they're most likely suffering from leaf-miner damage. Leaves with numerous small, round holes are the work of flea beetles.
Disease Alert Downy mildew produces pale yellow spots on leaves.
Harvesting Pick individual outside leaves when they're at least 3 inches long. Spinach can last up to a week in the refrigerator.
