English spinach

ENGLISH SPINACH

One of the joys of cool-season gardening is the opportunity to grow English spinach. Of all the leafy greens, this is undoubtedly my favourite. I love its flavour – mild and slightly nutty when eaten raw, with a soft and tender texture. It’s perfect for just about any dish, from salads to soups, or simply sautéed with olive oil and garlic for a tasty side dish.

Like most leafy greens, English spinach is a great crop for pots, especially in winter, as pots don’t dry out quickly. Go for a container at least 30cm wide, and place it in a sunny spot. In warm areas, make the most of the morning sun, but protect it from midday sun. A spot under eaves on the eastern side of a building might do the trick. Fill your pot with a top-quality potting mix with fertiliser added. If you have compost, mix in a few handfuls to give your growing medium a bio-boost.

This plant hates root disturbance. Sow seed directly in the pot, or use multicell punnets to minimise disruption when transplanting. Varieties include crinkled, smooth, rounded and pointed leaf types, as well as small-leaf or ‘baby’ spinach. For a quick start, look for English spinach in multicell punnets at your garden centre. I drop 3–4 seeds into one hole 8–10mm deep. This gives me more leaves to harvest, especially in the early stages, and increases my total yield considerably. Space clumps about 20cm apart. Keep soil moist and be patient, as the seeds can take 10–14 days to germinate. Soaking them overnight in water before sowing can speed things up.

English spinach responds very well to liquid feeding, so give it a little splash of liquid fertiliser every week or two. Once plants are established, with about 10 leaves, start picking the outer leaves as needed, always leaving 4–5 leaves in the centre to keep the plants growing. To extend your harvest, sow a successive crop every four weeks.