Spinach is one of those vegetables that you either love or hate. For me, it’s delicious, a nostalgic memory of my youth that I’ve carried with me through adulthood. Not only is it a superfood packed with cancer-fighting antibodies, but it’s incredibly versatile. You can eat it raw in salads or cooked with a little salt and garlic. When you take into account all the benefits you get when eating spinach, it is difficult to decide not to grow it. Before you do, there are some questions you may have – How long does spinach take to grow? Can you grow it anywhere, and do you have to have a green thumb?
Who produces spinach?
According to atlasbig.com, there are 30,107,231 tonnes of spinach harvested each year. The top countries are
- China produces 27,540,167 tonnes
- The United States produces 435,721 tonnes
- Turkey 229,793 tonnes
Within the United States, California crops yield 75% of production and are harvested almost year-round, producing 517.4 million pounds. Other states that contribute are New Jersey, Arizona, and Texas.
How long before spinach is ready to harvest
If you’re looking to plant spinach for family meals or to sell in your local farmer’s market, the process is the same, and so is the harvest time – a mere six (6) weeks.
Soil Temperature
The first step to planting your spinach garden is to wait until the soil temperatures are right – around 40 degrees. For most areas, this is around September, which will be ready for harvest in late November or early December. If you’ve missed the September window, you can still plant your seeds around 6-8 weeks before your first frost.
Don’t worry about the cold, spinach does well in cool areas and can take a bit of frost; however, if you live in a cold area, you may wish to plant your spinach close to a wall to protect it from cold winds and keep it warm during cold snaps plummeting below 28 degrees. If you’re lucky enough to have a hoop house, it will keep your spinach in top shape all winter.
Luckily, spinach has a long growing season but does need around six weeks of cool temperatures to do best. You can also plant in the late winter or early spring. Once you’ve begun planting, you can continue seeding every few weeks for continuous harvest.
Growing spinach
Once you’ve established where you wish to plant, consider the soil – spinach thrives in soil rich in organic matter such as manure compost. To begin planting, use your mini tiller and dig down, loosening the soil about a foot, as spinach has a long taproot. Doing this will quicken your spinach’s growth, allowing it to be ready to harvest within as early as six weeks unless you are planting Auroch, a spinach hybrid, which can be ready to harvest within four weeks.
Once you’ve completed this, you may begin to sow your seeds 1/2 inch deep and around 2 inches apart. Make sure you don’t go too deep, or the seeds won’t have enough light to germinate, and the chances of having a harvest are slim.
Cover the seeds by gently raking the organic compost over them. Water about 1 inch per week. If you water too much, you will stunt the plant’s growth and gain yellow leaves.
In six to eight weeks, you should be able to harvest.
Steps to grow spinach
- soil temperatures should be at around 40 degrees F.
- soil – well-drained, rich in organic matter
- Full sun or partial shade
- loosen the soil a foot or so deep using a mini tiller
- sow seed 1/2 inch deep every two inches
- cover seeds with soil
- water
- It takes around six (6-8) weeks until harvest
Garden Trax Mini Tiller
Mini Tiller
- Garden Trax
- Start and stop standing up
- 33cc 2-Cycle Engine Oil
- Great for personal gardens
- Makes your work easier
How to harvest
You will know when your spinach is done growing by the outer leaves – they should be around six inches long. When it’s ready, it’s so easy. Using a pair of garden scissors, simply cut the leaf off, harvesting only 1/3 of the plant. When you’re done, water the plant, and it should be ready within a few days for the next harvest. You should be able to harvest each plant up to four times before needing to reseed.
Unfortunately, spinach is an annual, which means it will not yield food indefinitely – instead, you must seed every year. Since it has such a large growing season, you can reseed every few weeks and never have to go hungry.
Why grow spinach?
The health benefits of spinach go on and on. It really does have superpowers making you ask – Who wouldn’t want spinach growing naturally in their garden?
Conclusion
Spinach is a superfood packed with nutrition that will help everything from fighting cancer to helping you lose weight, and it’s easy to grow in your backyard with a short window of around six weeks from planting to harvesting.