How to Grow Spinach in Sunlight
Containing vitamin A, iron, calcium and protein, spinach makes a nutritious salad green or sauteed vegetable dish. A cool-season crop, spinach grows well in either full sun or part sun and can be planted as soon as the soil temperatures warm to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. While spinach enjoys sunny locations, it dislikes hot weather and will decline as the days lengthen and weather warms. Start this vegetable early in the spring, and plant another spinach crop for fall. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- pH test kit
- Lime or sulfur (optional)
- Trowel
- Rake
- Spinach seeds
- Mulch
- Nitrogen fertilizer (optional)
- Scissors
Instructions
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Test your soil pH using a home test kit, following the directions on your kit. Spinach does best with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5, or lightly acidic to lightly alkaline. Modify the soil if needed using lime to raise the pH or sulfur to lower it. Add the right amount to get your measured pH to the 6.5-to-7.5 range (see Resources).
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Turn over the soil to a depth of 12 inches in preparation for planting. Break apart soil clods with your trowel, and remove rocks or weeds that will get in the way of the developing spinach plants. Rake the soil back to an even layer once you've done this.
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Dig 1/2-inch deep furrows and broadcast your spinach seeds in the furrow, leaving 1 inch of space between seeds. Leave 12 inches between rows. Once you've sown all the seeds, cover over the rows with dirt, using the dirt you moved to make the furrows.
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Water the soil until it gets moist, but not saturated. Continue to water this way until the seeds germinate, which can take up to 21 days.
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Thin out the plants once your seedlings germinate, leaving 2 to 6 inches between plants. Pull out the seedlings by hand.
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Water the developing spinach plants to keep the soil moist. Spinach suffers if the soil dries out, and sunny spinach beds will dry out faster than those in part sun.
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Mulch the plants to help the soil retain moisture longer. This helps sunny garden beds particularly in hot weather, when spinach is more likely to bolt, or rapidly grow toward flowering.
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Fertilize spinach only if the leaves appear yellow-green, rather than the vivid green color characteristic of this vegetable. If you need to fertilize, use a nitrogen fertilizer and base the dose amount on the size of your spinach bed.
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Cut spinach for harvest when the leaves are large enough to use, which is a personal preference. Harvest the entire plant, or clip only the leaves you want to use with scissors.
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Watch for bolting as the weather warms. Spinach declines in flavor as it bolts, so when you notice this, harvest your remaining plants. Since temperature plays a major role in bolting, sunny garden beds will bolt before shady ones.
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References
Resources
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