DIY Network

Guidelines to Grow By Guidelines to Grow By From "Fresh from the Garden" episode DFFG-125

Spinach: you either love it or you hate it! When cooked in dishes with other ingredients or simply eaten raw, spinach boasts a tasty, distinctive flavor. But many people are only familiar with canned spinach -- and spinach fresh from the garden is worlds superior to any spinach from a can! Better still, it's relatively easy to grow, especially in tiny gardens or in containers as you'll discover here....

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Materials:

Spinach plants
Blood meal fertilizer
Hand cultivator
Trowel
Bucket of cool water
Liquid starter fertilizer
Garden hose
Misting nozzle
Manure or compost
Cheesecloth
String
Mulch
Floating row cover
6-foot wire
Floral shears
Wooden stick

	Spinach loves cool weather and dislikes long hot summers! You can grow spinach in early spring and again in the fall.
	Once called "the prince of vegetables," spinach comes in two leaf forms: smooth leaf varieties that are sweet, tender and perfect for salads or savoy types that have thicker, crinkly leaves that hold up better when cooked.
	Spinach is normally sown directly from seed, but you can also transplant seedlings to speed up the growing process.
	When shopping for any type of transplant, you should shop for plants with good green color leaves. Examine the plants closely for leaf spots or other signs of disease or obvious insect damage.
	Roots should not be sticking out through the drain holes.
	Spinach is pretty easy to grow as long as you keep it cool and well-fed with rich soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.

• Spinach loves cool weather and dislikes long hot summers! You can grow spinach in early spring and again in the fall. Spinach has only one quirky feature – it will bolt at a hot moment's notice! If the weather gets too warm, the spinach plants will flower and go to seed or bolt. Once the plants have bolted, they're inedible unless you like a bitter leaf! To keep spinach from bolting, it's best to select varieties suited for your climate.

• Once called "the prince of vegetables," spinach comes in two leaf forms: smooth leaf varieties that are sweet, tender and perfect for salads or savoy types that have thicker, crinkly leaves that hold up better when cooked.

• Spinach is normally sown directly from seed, but you can also transplant seedlings to speed up the growing process. Starting from transplants will help grow the produce sooner than from seed -- about a month sooner in most cases. You should buy seedlings early in the planting season to be sure of getting the best quality. Look for sturdy, compact plants that are a healthy, green color.

• When shopping for any type of transplant, you should shop for plants with good green color leaves. Examine the plants closely for leaf spots or other signs of disease or obvious insect damage. Be sure to carefully check the underside of the leaves. If you see whiteflies, mites, other pests or evidence of disease, do not buy the plants.

• Try to avoid tall, leggy plants with weak, thin stems and yellow leaves. And don't forget to check the roots. Roots should not be sticking out through the drain holes. Some healthy, white roots should be visible through holes in the bottom of the pack or flat, but if there are roots growing out of the holes, the plants may be stunted. Try to select young transplants to get the best results.

• Seedlings need time to adjust from the protected indoor environment to the real world outdoors. Plants raised indoors under lights are not going to react well to the heat of the sun. To prevent undue stress to these tender seedlings, you need to gradually expose them to hotter and colder temperatures, and bright and drying sun. This transition is called hardening off.

• To begin the hardening process, you should set the seedlings out for only an hour or so then gradually increase the time you leave them out, finally leave them out all day and night. You can shade seedlings under shrubs or on a porch or deck – any place that is not in direct sun or in high wind. After about 5 days of hardening off, the seedlings are ready for transplanting!

• Spinach grows best at a soil temperature between 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but has been known to tolerate air temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. You should grow spinach in full sun or partial shade. Spinach is one of the few vegetables that can tolerate some shade.

• Spinach is pretty easy to grow as long as you keep it cool and well-fed with rich soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Spinach loves lots of nitrogen, so be sure to mix a high-nitrogen fertilizer into the soil before planting, but not too much nitrogen. Too much nitrogen can give spinach a tart, metallic taste.

• To add the additional nitrogen, you need to prep the soil with blood meal. It's a good organic fertilizer normally 12-0-0 which means its high in nitrogen. You need to add 3 cups per 50 square feet. Using a cultivator, you mix the blood meal into the top 6 to 8 inches of soil before planting.

• Soil pH is important in growing spinach. A soil test will help determine the pH of the soil and the level of available nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. It will also help you understand what adjustments you'll need to bring the soil to the fertility levels you need to grow great crops. Your local county extension service can provide you with a soil testing kit.