Tips on how to grow spinach

Popeye’s favourite food, bright green spinach is a delicious, fast-growing leafy crop. It needs cool, moist conditions and tends to bolt over summer, so grow it during the cooler months of the year or grow one of its heat-tolerant understudies – perpetual spinach or kōkihi – instead.

SOW AND GROW

When to sow: February to September in warm areas; September to November in cooler areas. When to transplant: March to October in warm areas; February to October in cooler areas. Position: Full sun. Harvest: 8-10 weeks. Good for pots.

GET STARTED

Between autumn and spring are the best times to sow and plant spinach. But in southern areas start seeds in trays indoors during the coldest winter months.

STEP BY STEP

Sow spinach seeds direct to a depth of 1cm, or in trays of moist seed raising mix.

Seeds will germinate in about 10-14 days. Space seeds or seedlings 10-15cm apart and rows 30cm apart. For baby leaves, sprinkle seeds thinly in a block.

GROWING TIPS

Spinach appreciates a fertile soil, and leaves will be more tender if grown quickly, so bulk up soil with sheep pellets or blood and bone before planting.

Spinach plants have shallow roots, making them ideal for pots. Plant seedlings or sow seed into pots or buckets with drainage holes drilled into them. Water regularly and ensure you give plants fortnightly foliar feeds of a general vegetable fertiliser or worm tea.

Harvest individual leaves as you need them, removing the larger, outer ones first, or remove the entire plant if more is needed – spinach shrinks to a mere portion of itself when cooked. Repeat sow every fortnight for a constant supply.

STANDOUT VARIETIES

Spinach comes in a range of sizes, shapes and textures. Its leaves can be smooth (which means it is easier to wash), crinkly, rounded or pointy.

If you don’t like soil splashing onto your plants, grow ‘‘Oriental Imperial Green’’, a variety with taller, upright leaves, which matures quickly.

‘‘Winter Queen’’ is a largerleafed spinach with dark green leaves and organic ‘‘Bloomsdale’’ is a giant spinach with broad, thick leaves that can withstand cold winters.

For baby leaves, ‘‘Spinach Medley’’ is a blend of five varieties bred for harvest as baby leaf greens. ‘‘Baby Leaf’’ is ready to pick in six to eight weeks, which is a good option if you’re growing close to summer, and ‘‘Baby Boom’’ has small leaves which help stall bolting. If you live in a warm region and/or have problems with spinach bolting to seed,

‘‘Summer Supreme’’ has regular-sized leaves but has been bred to cope with warmer weather, or try growing perpetual spinach (Beta vulgaris), which is technically a type of silverbeet with smaller leaves and thinner stems but can be used in place of spinach. Or grow kōkihi (Tetragonia tetragonoides), an underrated fleshy native groundcover that is unrelated to spinach but has earned itself the nickname New Zealand spinach because it turns vibrant green when steamed. It’s frost tender, so sow seed in spring for a summer harvest.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Slugs and snails love spinach so protect seedlings with cloches while they get established, and go on regular late night hunts with a head torch to find and squash any slimy visitors.

Long day length, lack of water and warm temperatures all trigger bolting, so make sure plants get enough water and avoid growing spinach in summer. Growing it in partial shade may also help.

Spinach is prone to various mildews, especially if it is growing in crowded conditions with poor air circulation.

Avoid watering the leaves and look out for hybrid varieties bred for resistance to fungal infections such as ‘‘Andromeda’’.