Nothing beats spinach grown in vegetable garden, with its incomparable flavour. Spinach (Spinachia oleracea) is one of most gourmand and delicate leaf vegetables, simply sautéed in a pan with the right amount of butter. To succeed in sowing spinach, start in early spring or late summer depending on variety, and follow our tips and advice.
When to sow spinach?
There are two types of spinach: summer spinach and winter spinach. We speak of long-day varieties for summer spinach ('America', ‘Matador’, ‘Junius’), and short-day varieties for winter spinach (‘Géant d’Hiver’, ‘Apollo’, etc.).
- For summer harvest (April to October), sow between late February and April.
- For all-winter harvest, sow from late August until October ('Monstrueux de Viroflay', ‘Géant d’hiver’).
Spinach likes cool conditions, both to germinate (around 16°C) and to grow. High summer heat will make it bolt. Remember it is a leaf vegetable! Take this tendency into account and consider your region and climate carefully when choosing between the two sowing options. You can sow even when temperatures are cold (in February or late autumn, covering rows with a forcing tunnel), it will just take a little longer to grow.
Where to sow spinach?
Like many leaf vegetables, spinach has a few requirements in vegetable garden. It therefore generally grows better in temperate regions:
- Soil: needs soil that remains cool, even damp, rich in humus, potassium and especially nitrogen. Acidic or tendency-to-acid soils are ideal. Particularly suited are clay-loam soils and heavy soils.
- Exposure: partial shade is generally essential to prevent bolting. In southern regions, sowing in shade suits it better. Conversely, in northern regions sow in sun. For spring and autumn sowings, also prefer a sunny aspect.
- Companion plants: sow next to legumes for good companion planting. They will supply nitrogen (beans, peas, broad beans), and also sow near radishes and lettuces.
How to sow spinach?
Spinach is sown in situ, directly in ground. For urban gardeners, container growing is possible with minimum depth of 25 cm, provided watering is carefully monitored.
Equipment
- Spinach seeds.
- Hand fork and rake.
- Possibly a garden line and a Nantes tunnel.
- Watering can.
Steps for sowing spinach
- Prepare soil well in advance: ideally in autumn, plan addition of compost (3 kg/m²) or fertiliser.
- Loosen surface soil by lightly forking surface (not too much as it likes firm soil).
- Mark out drills 20–30 cm apart, over 5–6 m of row (for family of four).
- Sow thinly (not too dense), in rows, 2 cm deep, seeds 3 cm apart, then cover with soil.
- Firm the row (press down) with back of rake.
- Emergence is quick for spinach, between 7 and 10 days.
- Thin to 10 cm (keep one plant every 10 cm).
- Water thoroughly, then regularly to keep soil moist.
- Mulch between spring-sown rows to keep soil cool and limit adventive plants.
My tips:
- In autumn, resow 15 days after first sowing to stagger production and harvest (spring production is generally a single flush, heat causing plants to bolt).
- At thinning, keep surplus plants to eat as young shoots in a mesclun!
- In winter, sow broadcast in vegetable patch to cover soil and stop weeds coming back strongly in spring.
- In spring, a mulch of dried grass clippings is ideal to supply nitrogen.
Harvest occurs about 1 to 1.5 months after sowing (2 months for winter crops), leaf by leaf when leaves reach 8 cm. Cook spinach immediately after picking. Enjoy!
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