A fast-maturing cool-season leaf crop that delivers harvests in as few as 37 days and tolerates hard frost without protection.
Spinacia oleracea · also called common spinach, garden spinach
Windows are counted from the average date of your last spring frost.
Spinach produces usable leaves faster than almost any other vegetable, fits neatly between other crops in spring and fall, and its flavor sharpens noticeably when grown in cool soil — a quality difficult to replicate with store-bought leaves.
A little history. Native to central and southwestern Asia, spinach is a dioecious annual (plants are either male or female) in the Amaranthaceae family. Long days above roughly 14 hours trigger the shift to flowering, which is why spring sowings bolt faster than fall ones.
Sow seeds ½ inch (13 mm) deep, and aim for 6 inches (15 cm) between plants once thinned. Keep the top half-inch consistently moist until sprouts show; seeds rot if waterlogged, so avoid heavy clay that stays saturated. Seedlings emerge in 5–14 days.
Water deeply every 3–4 days in cool weather; increase to every 2 days if temps climb above 65 °F (18 °C). Water when the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch. Aim for about 1 inch per week including rain.
Side-dress (scatter fertilizer along the row and water in) once when plants reach 3 inches tall; a second application is rarely needed for a 50-day crop. What to use: nitrogen-forward fertilizer such as blood meal or a 10–5-5 organic blend.
Pinch out the central growing tip immediately if a flower stalk begins to form; this buys a few extra days of leaf harvest before the plant becomes too bitter to use.
It's ready when outer leaves are 3–6 inches long, dark green, and fully expanded. Baby leaves are ready at 2–3 inches for salad use. Harvest before any flower stalk (bolt) appears. Cut outer leaves at the base with scissors or snap them off cleanly, leaving the central growing point intact for continued production. For a full harvest, cut the entire plant 1 inch above soil level.
Unwashed, loosely bagged in a perforated plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper drawer; use within 5–7 days. Blanch and freeze for longer storage.
Sow a new row every 10–14 days from first workable soil until 5 weeks before expected temperatures top 75 °F (24 °C); resume the same interval 8 weeks before first fall frost.
Strawberry
Both want cool soil, steady moisture, and shallow root runs, so spinach can fill the gaps between young strawberry crowns in spring and be cut away well before the berries need the room.
Radish
Radishes often pull flea beetles onto their own leaves and away from spinach; pull and bin the radishes once they size up so the beetles leave with them rather than moving over.
Garden Pea
Peas bank nitrogen in root nodules that is mostly released as those roots break down, so the bed is richer for next season's leafy crop rather than for the spinach growing alongside now.
Garlic
The strong onion smell of garlic foliage can make it harder for aphids to locate spinach by scent. Helpful under light pest pressure, not a substitute for mesh or a water spray once colonies build.
Lettuce
Lettuce shares spinach's cool-season timing, shallow rooting, and 6-inch spacing, so the two interplant cleanly and can be cut over the same few weeks before either shifts to flowering.
Fennel
Fennel roots release compounds that stunt most garden vegetables, spinach included. Grow it in its own corner or a pot well away from the bed, where its flowers still feed hoverflies and tiny parasitic wasps.
Swiss Chard
Spinach shares the beet family and the same leaf miner and downy mildew problems, so a hard-hit spinach patch often seeds trouble straight into neighbouring chard. Keep them in separate beds where you can.
Good King Henry
Both belong to the goosefoot family and host the same downy mildew and the same leaf-mining flies. A permanent crown grown beside annual spinach carries those problems from one season into the next instead of breaking the cycle.
Quinoa
Spinach shares quinoa's family and its downy mildew and leaf miner pressure; together they give both pests an uninterrupted food supply. Spinach also shades poorly under tall quinoa, so separate plantings suit both.
Give the beet family 2 years away from this spot before any of its relatives return.
The pea and bean family, the tomato family or the onion family thrive in this ground next season.
Spinach is a moderate feeder that leaves little residue and empties the top few inches of nitrogen. Keep the beet family — beets, chard, and spinach itself — out of this ground for 2 years, then follow with peas or beans, the tomato family, or onions and garlic.
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