What a difference 21 days or so makes…to spinach. Spinach, mesclun and radishes all have a shot at sizing up as first field crops to harvest, for next Saturday’s market. Today was satisfyingly busy, with lots of new seeding, on-time weeding, and manual irrigation of recently seeded beds (aka watering in with a hose and fan spray nozzle)… Compared to previous years, there’s an incredible amount of stuff on the go already. Extreme gardening?!
I have planted spinach for the first time this year – any tips?
Sara from farmingfriends
Hey Sara: Around here, so far, spinach is pretty much a troublefree crop, like lettuce. Nothing eats it, it gets no disease. So, in it goes and then one day…there’s spinach! Hope it’s the same where you are. Heat of course is not spinach’s friend, summer spinach usually means poor germination, need for lots of water, and rapid bolting. I still always try, usually get poor results (unless it’s a summer of no sun, like three years ago) and then it comes back for fall. It likes rich, well-composted soil, spinach is a pretty heavy feeder, it eats what it can get. If you like rich, earthy-tasting spinach, try Bloomsdale if you can, it’s a well-known open pollinated variety. Taste is very full, and seems to vary a bit with the bed it’s grown in. I stick mainly to Bloomsdale and, at the other end of the seed spectrum, Spargo, which is a modern superfast hybrid (40 days) with a nice, mild all-purpose taste. Whenever I get to real seed-saving, I’ll likely be growing nothing but Bloomsdale!
What wonderful spinach you have! I looks so healthy. Mine is really struggling right now. I think it’s too hot here for it now. Thanks for the tip about the Bloomsdale variety.
Please kindly help me with info on how grow spinach commercially. I’m trying to do research on spinach and amaranth. Any info (which web site to visit) will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.