Permapotes

Spinach

Spinach: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar

Spinach is a leafy vegetable valued for its green leaves and savoury vegetable flavour. It suits you if you want both young leaves for salads and a vegetable for cooked dishes. Smooth and more crinkled forms offer different textures without being separate species. Leaf size and stage of development also affect how the vegetable looks and feels on a plate.

Its botanical name is Spinacia oleracea. It belongs to the Amaranthaceae family, which also includes beetroot and chard. The name Chenopodiaceae still appears in older classifications. Spinach is therefore a botanically identified leafy crop rather than a general name for every plant whose leaves can be cooked in a similar way. Different plants sold with spinach in their names can have quite different habits.

The plant is generally annual. It first forms a low leafy clump with leaves carried on petioles, the little stalks that connect each leaf to the centre of the plant. Leaves may be oval, triangular or slightly arrow-shaped, depending on the variety. Colour, thickness and the texture of the leaf surface also vary. Some varieties have reddish leaf stalks and veins, adding a different appearance to the familiar green foliage.

When the plant enters its reproductive phase, a taller stem appears with small, inconspicuous flowers. This change is known as bolting, with flowering occurring before seed formation. Long days and heat can hasten the transition. Spinach is consequently a relatively short-lived crop rather than a permanent leafy clump that keeps the same foliage indefinitely. Its flowering stage is a normal part of the plant’s life cycle.

Varieties include Symphony, Polka, Géant d’hiver and Monstrueux de Viroflay. They differ in foliage, cold tolerance and their tendency to flower under particular conditions. A variety suited to one season does not necessarily behave the same way in another. Baby leaf describes a stage of development and a kitchen use, not a different species from spinach used for its larger leaves.

In the kitchen, spinach features in salads, omelettes, savoury tarts and pasta fillings or accompaniments. Larger leaves suit cooked preparations, where they lose a substantial part of their volume. Leaf beet, sometimes called perpetual spinach, is not this species. New Zealand spinach and Malabar spinach are also different plants, despite having similar leafy uses. This distinction helps you compare their life cycles and their place in a garden.

Spinach
Spinach
Characteristics
  • Lifecycle : Annual
  • Exposure : Partial Shade
  • Frost Hardiness : Frost Resistant
  • Cultivation Difficulty : Medium
  • Mature height : 30 cm
Sowing & Planting
  • Greenhouse crops : Unheated greenhouse
  • Greenhouse Growing : Not Required
  • Sowing Depth : 1 cm
  • Plant Spacing : 10 cm
  • Row Spacing : 25 cm
Maintenance
  • Maintenance : Low
  • Water Requirements : Moderate
Other characteristics
  • Soil Type : Humus-rich
  • Soil pH Preference : Acidic
  • Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Pollination : Wind-pollinated
  • Propagation : Sowing