Spinach: The First Greens of Spring
1 min read By Екипът на Seeds
Spinach tolerates cold and hates heat. When to sow it so you can pick before it bolts.
When to sow
Spinach is sown early in spring — as soon as the soil can be worked (February–March) — and again at the end of August and in September. Autumn sowings often overwinter and give the earliest harvest the following year.
How
- Depth: 2–3 cm.
- Rows: 25–30 cm apart, plants 8–10 cm apart.
- Soaking the seeds for 12 hours speeds up germination.
Why it bolts
Spinach begins to form a flower stem when the days become long and warm. The leaves then turn bitter. That is why spring sowing should be as early as possible and the varieties bolt-resistant.
Harvest
Pick the outer leaves when the rosette has 6–8 leaves, or cut the whole plant above the growing point. Spinach loves nitrogen — compost before sowing gives dark, large leaves.
Photo: Alexey Tarakanov, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
