Growing Spinach
How to Grow Spinach
in Your Garden
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Young Organic Spinach Grown in a Raised Garden
| Nutrition | Watering Instructions | Harvesting |
| Climate | Fertilizing Instructions | Storage |
| Soil | Challenges | Tips |
| Planting |
Growing spinach in your vegetable garden will give you a wonderful supply of tasty, very nutritious, edible dark green leaves. As long as you have properly prepared the soil, this is a fairly easy crop to grow. But, be warned, spinach can be a bit picky about its growing conditions.
Gardening Tip for growing Spinach - When growing spinach, soil preparation is very important.
How to grow Spinach - Nutrition Information
Dietary Fiber, Protein, Magnesium, Chromium, Manganese, Calcium, Potassium, Copper, Iron, Fluorine, Vitamin A, E, C, K, B6, Zinc, Niacin, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, Phosphorus
How to grow Spinach - Climate & Growing Conditions
Growing spinach will be successful in most climates, if grown during the cool gardening season. (It bolts (goes to seed) in hot weather.)
Spinach is commonly planted as a spring crop, but you can plant a second crop later in the season. If you plant a late crop, you can enjoy spinach into late fall. Try mulching with leaves before heavy frost to extend your harvest into the fall.
Note: You can even mulch with leaves or similar in late fall, and winter the spinach over. In early spring, remove the mulch, for an early crop of greens.
How to grow Spinach - Preparing the Garden Soil
Well-drained, rich garden soil, sheltered from the wind will provide the best environment for growing spinach. Plant spinach in a sunny or partially-sunny location in your garden.
Spinach does not grow well in acidic soils. Growing spinach requires that the soil pH level be between 6.0 to 7.0. If your soil is too acidic, try adding biochar, lime and or compost. (Click here for instructions on testing your garden soil pH level)
Prepare the garden bed with compost and well-rotted manure several weeks before planting the spinach seeds.
Gardening Tip for Growing Spinach - Keep weeds under control by mulching around the growing spinach plants. In addition to helping the soil retain moisture, mulching also helps keep the roots cooler (extending the growing season).
How to grow Spinach - Planting
Plant every 3 weeks for a continuous crop.
Plant spinach seeds directly into the garden bed. Sow shallowly at only ¼” deep, 4” apart and in rows that are 14” apart. Lightly cover the seeds. Water just until the soil is moist. Keep the soil lightly moistened during the germination period. The growing spinach seedlings should emerge within 3 weeks.
Photo: Young spinach seedlings
How to grow Spinach - Watering
When growing spinach, keep the soil moist with regular watering. (See note about mulch above.) Try to water beneath the leaves, at soil level, if at all possible.
If rainfall is less than 1” per week, you will need to irrigate the spinach patch.
Gardening Tip for Growing Spinach - With this vegetable, it is better to water from underneath the leaves. This helps avoid potential plant diseases that can affect spinach.
How to grow Spinach - Fertilizing
You'll have your best success in growing spinach if you fertilize it with a weekly dose of a nitrogen rich fertilizer watered into the ground (boosts leaf growth).
How to grow Spinach - Gardening Challenges
Spinach blight (yellow curled up leaves), downy mildew, leaf miners, mites.
How to grow Spinach - Harvesting
Growing spinach takes around 10 weeks to maturity. But, you can pick it at any size. Be sure to wash well. (Spinach tends to hold dirt in the crannies of the leaves.)
How to grow Spinach - Storage
How to freeze vegetables - SPINACH
How to dehydrate vegetables - SPINACH
How to can vegetables - SPINACH
Gardening Tips From Our Readers
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Note: the advice and information contained herein is based upon our experience and study. As with any advice, please apply at your own discretion.