How to Harvest Spinach for Months!

When you’ve put in the work to grow delicious greens, it makes sense to get the most from your labor. One trick? Know how to harvest spinach so that it continues to produce over the course of many weeks. 

Find out how to harvest basil the right way, too!

Harvesting spinach for green salads or to stir to add to meals is one of the perks of growing a garden. Could it get any more fresh?? 

When to Harvest Spinach

Your spinach crop will be mature in 35-45 days, depending on the variety you choose. [More on growing spinach here.]

If you’re feeling antsy about noshing on your homegrown greens, you can begin harvesting baby spinach leaves from young plants as early as about 15 days. These smaller baby leaves are more tender than mature leaves, so there’s no reason to wait for the plants to reach maturity!

Spinach is a cool season crop, so it’s a sure bet for an early spring harvest; you can plant another batch out in late summer or early fall for a second season. [Read more about growing spinach here.]

Hot tip: If you sow seeds and find that the seedlings are popping up closer together than you like, you can harvest the tiny seedlings by cutting them off at the soil’s surface. At this stage, they are essentially microgreens. 

How to Harvest Spinach (Without Killing the Plant)

You can, of course, wait until spinach plants are very full and pull the whole plant. But that means one harvest, one salad. 

Instead? Harvest spinach leaf by leaf to assure that you’ll have fresh greens over a longer stretch of time rather than pulling the entire plant.

To harvest individual leaves, use a pair of scissors, garden shears, or a sharp knife to cut off the larger outer leaves near the base of the plant at the stem. Leave the central leaves intact and the entire spinach plant will continue to grow. Harvesting spinach this way allows the plant to continue growing and producing leaves, providing you with fresh greens for weeks and weeks rather than for a single meal.

When Spinach Bolts

Spinach plants will continue to produce new leaves until the plant begins to flower and make new spinach seeds. When mature plants begin to set seed like this it is called “bolting” in gardening circles. When you see this happening — a sturdier stalk will emerge from the center of the plant — stop harvesting. Spinach leaves lose their flavor and develop a bitter taste at this stage. (Feed them to the chickens, though – they won’t mind!)

This is a great method for harvesting spinach for anyone who puts work into a garden (might as well get the most bang for your buck, right?) but it’s an especially good tip for urban gardeners who don’t have a lot of space. Make those container gardens work for you!

Keeping Spinach Leaves Fresh

If you’ve ever stored spinach leaves in a plastic bag, you know that the leaves start to get dark and kind of melt where the foliage remains damp and touches the bag. Moisture is the problem. Here’s how to avoid that kind of mess:

Once you’ve harvested spinach, sort through and discard any leaves that are yellowed, bug-bitten, or otherwise unappealing. 

Fill a bowl or basin with water and add spinach leaves in batches, making sure that there’s enough room to swish the leaves around. Swish them around to remove small dirt particles or bugs that may have hitched a ride. 

Dry the leaves thoroughly with a salad spinner or on a clean towel. Remove as much moisture as possible; this is what will cause the leaves to get gross. 

Place a kitchen towel or cloth napkin in the bottom of an airtight storage container and transfer spinach leaves to the container. The leaves will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week this way.

Using Fresh Spinach Leaves

They’re an easy addition to any green salad or salad bar, of course, but spinach leaves are a great way to get a little vegetable into the diet when added to meals. Try some of these! 

• Healthy egg muffins
• Vegan lentil soup
• Chicken with pecorino cream sauce
• Spinach strawberry salad

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