Growing Spinach for a Cool Season Harvest

Growing spinach in the home garden, whether a container garden or a larger backyard production, will net the freshest of greens. A garden to table harvest is yours when you learn how to grow spinach! 

Try your hand at growing greens like bok choy and arugula, too!

Contributed by Jodi Torpey, author and Master Gardener.

growing spinach plant in the garden

Spinach has the reputation as one of the healthiest leafy greens gardeners can plant in their gardens. These great-for-you greens are rich in vitamins and minerals, especially iron. In fact, it’s the iron in spinach that gives Popeye his incredible strength.

For the rest of us, spinach offers tasty smooth or crinkly green leaves that are some of the earliest greens in spring. Spinach is thought to have originated in the Middle East and was transported to the Americas by Spanish explorers.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is an easy-to-grow, cool-season vegetable that belongs in the Goosefoot family along with beets and chard. It can be planted in both spring and fall because it grows so quickly—harvests can begin in as little as six weeks from planting.

spinach leaves, some in a brown bowl

How to Grow Spinach Successfully

For best results, plant quick-maturing varieties (40-50 days), that are slow to bolt and offer good disease resistance. Spinach plants are adaptable and can grow in vegetable gardens, ornamental gardens, raised beds, containers, and even hanging baskets.

Wait for the garden soil to warm to at least 45 degrees and to dry slightly before planting. It’s important to avoid walking on wet spring gardens to keep from compacting the delicate soil structure.

In early spring, sow spinach seeds directly in the garden about 1/2 inch deep, about 1-2 inches apart and about 12-14 inches between rows. Once seeds sprout and start to grow, thin plants to about 3-6 inches within a row, depending on the variety.

To speed up the planting and growing timetable, spinach seedlings are often available at garden centers in spring. Spinach plants can take a light freeze, but won’t do well when temperatures turn hot.

In fall, time the spinach harvest by counting back six to eight weeks from the date of the average first hard freeze in your area. This method ensures the tender rosettes are a nice size before cold temperatures and frost stop plants from growing. As an alternative, plant spinach in a cold frame so you can harvest during much of the winter.

For a continuous spinach harvest, sow seeds every 10 days until the weather stops your gardening efforts. These later plantings may overwinter to give you an early crop in spring.

Savoy and Smooth Spinach Varieties

The spinach choices continue to grow each season with new advances in breeding. You can choose to plant crinkly Savoy-type or spinach types with smooth leaves, depending on your taste.

Here are six different spinach selections to plant, but of course there are many more on the market. The days to maturity are from the date seeds were sown in the garden.

curly leaved spinach

Bloomsdale is the classic spinach variety that grows large, savoyed leaves on long stems; 30 days.

Kolibri is one of the new spinach varieties with crinkly leaves that grows quickly and resists downy mildew; 30 days.

Reflect is another fast-growing spinach, but this variety has smooth oval leaves that are often used as baby spinach; 24 days.

Renegade has fleshy and round dark green leaves that are smooth and sweet; 42 days.

Palco is an adaptable spinach variety that grows well in spring and fall with good disease and bolt resistance; 38 days.

Tundra is a spinach with semi-savoyed oval leaves, ideal to harvest as baby spinach with good disease resistance; 40 days.

spinach growing in a concrete garden bed

Requirements for Growing Spinach

Give growing spinach the environment and care it needs and it will reward you with plenty of fresh greens for table.

Soil Requirements

Plant and grow spinach in a rich, moist soil. If you need to amend your soil, spread a layer of good-quality compost over the planting area and work it in before planting, After spinach plants start to grow, spread a layer of mulch around plants to help regulate soil temperatures and reduce weeds.

Light Requirements

Spinach plants grow best in a cool spot with full sun; however, you may need to provide shade to spinach crops if the temperatures become unseasonably hot before it’s time to harvest.

Water and Fertilizer Requirements

Use a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the soil moist. Avoid letting the soil dry out or plants may bolt and flower prematurely. If the soil was fertile to begin with, you may not need to fertilize during the short growing time.

If plants do need a boost, apply a high nitrogen fertilizer to ensure healthy green leaves.

spinach growing in a field

Prevent Spinach Problems

One way to prevent insect pest problems is to keep the garden bed weed-free. Insects are attracted to weeds and then move into the garden easily.

To avoid problems with flea beetles and leaf miners harming spinach leaves, use row cover cloth at planting time to keep the adult insects from laying eggs.

Leaf miner damage shows up as small, light brown trails that wind through the leaf layers. Pick and throw away any damaged leaves. Use floating row cover, tied down tightly at the edges, to protect plants.

Flea beetles can be distracted by planting a trap crop, like radishes, in advance of the spinach. The beetles will start to feed on the radish greens because they’ll be available before the spinach starts growing.

Prevent premature flowering by planting bolt-resistant or low-bolting spinach varieties.

Growing Spinach in Containers

Spinach is easy to grow in containers. In fact, some gardeners prefer to plant in containers because the spinach leaves stay cleaner, which means less time spent washing away garden soil.

You can plant an entire container of spinach or plant spinach around the edge of a container where you plan to grow a tomato or pepper plant.

Select a large enough container and fill it with a potting soil meant for container growing that includes a slow-release fertilizer. Moisten the soil before planting either spinach seeds or transplants. Keep up with watering and use row cover cloth to protect plants from insect pests.

two hands harvesting spinach

Harvest Spinach

After plants have grown 6-8 leaves, start harvesting individual leaves when they’re about 1 inch tall. Clip leaves from the outside of the plant, allowing the inner leaves to keep growing. These baby spinach leaves are especially tender and tasty.

You could also wait until leaves are 3-4 inches tall and either cut off all the leaves or cut the plant a few inches above soil level while the greens are still young and tender. The leaves will regrow, so you can plan on several cuttings.

Go here for more details on how to harvest spinach.

Propagating Spinach

You can save spinach seeds for future crops by letting plants flower and form seeds. When the plants turn yellow and dies, either harvest the seeds from the flower stalks and heads or cover the seed heads with a paper bag, pull up the entire plant and hang it upside down to dry.

Separate the seeds from the seed head and allow them to dry thoroughly. Store seeds in an envelope or lidded container, label with the date and keep cool and dry.

creamy mushroom risotto recipe in a cast iron pan

How to Use Spinach in the Kitchen

Garden-fresh spinach is perfect added to green salads, used in place of lettuce in sandwiches, and blended in green shakes and smoothies. Cooked, it’s delicious steamed as a side dish, stirred into soups or risotto, and added to stir fries, quiches, frittatas, pastas, pizzas and more.

Learn more about what vegetables are in season when and embrace them in your meal planning!

Click to save or share!

About the author: Jodi Torpey is an award-winning vegetable gardener, a Craftsy gardening instructor, and a Colorado Master Gardener. She’s the author of Blue-Ribbon Vegetable Gardening and The Colorado Gardener’s Companion. Her writing also appears in digital and print media, and she’s a popular speaker at gardening conferences and events around the country. Reach her at www.JodiTorpey.com.

0 comments… add one

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *