Growing Spinach, also English spinach

Spinacia oleracea : Amaranthaceae / the amaranth family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
      P       P P      

(Best months for growing Spinach in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 77°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 8 - 12 inches apart
  • Harvest in 5-11 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Broad beans (fava), cabbage, cauliflower, celery, eggplant (aubergine), onion, peas, strawberry, santolina

Your comments and tips

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01 Jul 10, Lloyd (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
re heritage spinach are the leaves eatable when they go red heard they are not when coloured hope someone can help
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21 Mar 10, sandy (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hi Sharon, my spinach went to flower also, I pulled them out except for one plant just to see what would happen, I cut the flower off and pulled the rest of the leaves off and it grew back! not sure if that's what you are meant to do but it worked for me
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15 Oct 09, sharon (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
My English spinach has gone to seed and im not sure what to do with it? Should i leave it or pull up? Does it regenerate after it has gone to seed?
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10 Oct 09, Elia Rigali (Australia - temperate climate)
When the spinach germinate and at the small one leaf stage, its got little dots on the leaves all over. It looks like its marked by a tiny insect. What spray is reccomended. Thank You
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18 Sep 09, jennie (Australia - temperate climate)
my spinach seems to be dying all my other plants are fine ( herbs and vegtables) but its only the spinach that is dying they have shade area ,that gets a good amount of sun and alot of space what do i do my nursery don't know either i have tried alot of seedlings but still only the spinach die ?? could it be seasol?
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07 Jul 09, Sherran (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Help!! We want to get hold of the old fashioned long leafed spinach, a sweet juicy tender skinned purple grape. And can any one recommend a nice, sweet , juicy miniature manderine.
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04 Jul 09, Barb (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
HI Hannah, Traditional spinach struggles in a hot climate - I grow it in winter in Sydney, but summer it only survives in cool shade. Fortunately there are various hot climate 'spinach' options: Egyptian spinach (Malu Khia) likes hot climate, and I think Ceylon spinach is another. Seeds obtainable from www.greenharvest.com.au - they're QLD based, so they're seeds should be acclimatised to tropics/subtropics.
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02 Jul 09, Hannah (Australia - tropical climate)
Living in Darwin, and would love to grow spinach/baby spinach, but can't seem to get it to grow in our hot climate! Any tips/suggestions on how to keep it alive would be appreciated!
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10 Jun 09, Mark (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Natalie, We had a really bad problem with slaters which can easily be overcome by decreasing the amount of mulch (thats where they live) and or using a product called Multiguard by Multicrop. It is excellent in controlling slaters and snails and doesn't impact on the beneficial animal in the garden and breaks down into an iron chelate. Good luck.
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09 Jun 09, JPVD (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Natalie; Sounds likeyou got 'slaters' baby! Hard to kill...apparently can be 'managed' with things like upturned lemon rinds and potatoe peels. They go under at night for the moisture and in the morning you can get quite a few to destroy! I hate 'em; cuz they are greedy and seemingly unstoppable. Best to bring on the seedlings in safe seed-trays somewhere and plant them out when they are quite large.
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Showing 91 - 100 of 114 comments
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I planted spinach a couple of weeks ago and they have sprouted successfully, however, because I planted a few seeds in each hole - they have sprouted together. Rather than pull any out and lose them, is it possible to wait until they get to a certain size and then transplant them to a different area of my garden (as if they were a seedling). And if so, at what stage can I do that (ie. when they are how many centimetres tall)?

- Donna

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