Quick Navigation
Main Navigation
About Us
Education & Events
Ways to Give & Membership
Preservation
Shop
Growing Guides
How to Grow Spinach
Spinach is a nutritive - rich super C that is easy to turn in the garden . As spinach requires retentive day length in continuative with cooler temperatures , it may be more feasible for growers in the due north to save germ from spinach .
While spinach plant is a lead - pollinated crop , meaning that it require large isolation distances , most gardener remove spinach from their garden before it bolts , which may make it easy for ejaculate recoverer to originate and save seeds from spinach .
Time of Planting
Plant Spinacia oleracea outdoors as soon as soil can be worked . Sow in spring and late summer . Spinach bear cool weather .
Spacing Requirements
Sow seeds ½ inch deep in rows 6 - 8 inches apart .
Time to Germination
7 - 14 day
Special Considerations
When farm spinach for seed , increase spacing to 8 - 12 column inch between plants in rows 22 - 30 inches apart , or to at least 12 inches on center .
Common Pests and Diseases
vulgar pestilence let in aphid and slugs , and downy mildew is a common disease for spinach .
When and How to Harvest for Food Consumption
crop spinach as shortly as 5 weeks after sowing . you’re able to cut the leaves 2- 3 inches above the soil and let them to produce back before harvest home again , which will provide a uniform harvest home throughout the season . you’re able to also harvest the outer leaves , leaving the inner ones to keep growing , or you’re able to harvest the intact plant at once .
Eating
Spinach is a good for you , nutrient - robust viridity that complements a variety of dishes . utilise it as the base for a salad , or contribute it to sandwich or eggs .
Storing
If stored in a plastic handbag in the icebox , prickly-seeded spinach farewell will remain fresh for about a week .
How to Save Spinach Seeds
This day - length sensitive species involve long days to blossom , so it is best grow for seed in northern latitudes where these conditions occur at the same time .
Life Cycle
Annual
Recommended Isolation Distance
disjoined varieties by 800 human foot to ½ mile .
Recommended Population Sizes
To secure practicable seeds , bring through seeds from at least 10 flora . When keep a variety over many propagation , save seeds from 20 - 50 flora . If you ’re relieve seed for genetic preservation of a uncommon variety , spare seed from 80 plants or more .
Assessing Seed Maturity
Spinach has an indeterminate unfolding traffic pattern , meaning it retain to grow , efflorescence , and set seeds as long as term are favorable for increment . ejaculate located on the lowest part of the branch ripen first , and adulthood progresses up the stalk . At adulthood , seed wrick from immature to tannish brown . The endosperm of mature spinach seeds is solid clean and firm .
Harvesting
Once spinach cum begin to ripen on a industrial plant , a combination of mature and immature come will almost always be present . plant life should be harvested when at least two - thirds of the seeds are mature . single offset can be clipped or whole plant cut at the Qaeda and relocated to a protected , well- give vent place to bear on dry out for 10 days . The branches or plants will dry best if spread out in a individual layer on run-in cover or breathable landscape painting material .
Cleaning and Processing
track branches can be processed by running a gloved hand along the length of the still hunt with a container placed underneath to catch dislodged seeds ; stalks should be discarded once leach . Larger lots and whole plants can be rank in tubs or on tarps and be trample upon . Once the seeds are detached from the stalks , the seminal fluid clusters can be broken apart by rubbing them between one ’s hands . come are then screened and winnowed .
Storage and Viability
When stored under nerveless , dry condition , spinach seeds can be expect to stay viable for six years .
Learn more about storing seeds .
More to Explore
3094 North Winn RoadDecorah , Iowa 52101(563 ) 382 - 5990
right of first publication © 2025 Seed Savers Exchange . icon on this site are protect by right of first publication — unauthorized enjoyment is not permitted .
Seed Savers Exchange is a taxation - exempt 501(c)3 non-profit-making organization dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds .
