Spinach

[Holly Daze]

Good morning, I planted spinach a few weeks ago. All was going well but I have noticed that they appear to be on the cusp of bolting. What went wrong please?

[Nicos]

I think it’s just due to the weather changing.
I pinch out the flower tips on a regular basis when they get to that stage.

[ameno]

Time of year. Spinach are day length sensitive, and this is peak flowering time for them. The dry weather probably didn't help, mind.
This time of year, spinach can only be grown as baby leaves. As soon as the plants get anywhere close to full grown they will immediately start to flower.
If you want large, fully grown spinach leaves, you either need to sow early for picking until about the end of May (at which point they'll bolt), or else so from the beginning of July onwards, for late summer and autumn pickings.

If you want summer "spinach" for cooking, you might want to try one of the alternatives. I find chard to be good.

[Plot70]

I have tried chard this year for the first time. It struggled to germinate at first.
I also have some red cut once and no come again plants that self seed so much that I never have a formal bed for it. It provides some ground cover against weeds it places like squash beds and is ready about now. I have no idea of the variety as the first plant self seeded onto my plot.

[Holly Daze]

Thank you all for your input. I think I planted too early. I want big leaves for cookery recipes. Perhaps chard leaves are the answer.

[peanut]

My spinach bolted, so did my pak choi.

[Holly Daze]

Sorry to hear that Peanut. Disappointing.

[Bren In Pots]

I’m giving perpetual spinach a go this year not really holding much hope out, but I do have a fair bit of Chard that’s looking ok.

[MelanieSW]

Sounds like I've been lucky then! - this year was the first time my spinach did really well. So far no sign of bolting, leaves are getting nice and big, and the snails left it mostly alone.

[MelanieSW]

I’m giving perpetual spinach a go this year not really holding much hope out, but I do have a fair bit of Chard that’s looking ok.

If chard is doing ok, so should the perpetual spinach which is also basically a kind of chard . (Tbh I'm never too sure which is which on the allotment, and after several years of volunteer seedlings everywhere I suspect they've merrily crossbred and merged)

[mrsbusy]

I have grown Medania spinach for the first time this year and I am picking salad leaves every day - even the dogs are getting a few leaves! I grew the seeds in pods first then planted out only about 3 weeks ago - I also have them under enviromesh because I put onion sets between each spinach plant and something ate the onion shoots but didn't touch the spinach! The mesh gives a little shade plus I watered them every day.
I always grew spinach beet which produced all summer and under cover all through the winter and that had big leaves.
I find it quite interesting that whatever comes on my allotment is very picky about their diet. Onion shoots and kale seedlings yes. Spinach, beetroot, corn, toms, oca, courgettes, parsley - not touched. So far!

[mrsbusy]

As there is this thread about spinach I thought I would post this note about spinach v lettuce. I can't credit it because I can't remember where I found it but I have been converted from lettuce to raw baby spinach.

"Spinach and lettuce are nutritionally different. spinach has twice as much potassium, protein, calcium, iron, niacin and vitamins A, C, B, C and B-12 as any other leaf vegetable. Spinach also contains more fiber and minerals including magnesium, phosphorus and potassium than any of the four lettuce types."

[Penellype]

Spinach is one of my favourite vegetables and is top priority for spring sowing. It varies a lot between varieties as some have much bigger leaves than others. I have had most success with Amazon. The leaves change as the plant grows, starting off small, roundish and slightly crunchy - these are nice in salads. As the plant matures the leaves become bigger and increasingly diamond shaped, soft and great for cooking. At this stage in a good year Amazon can produce leaves the size of A4 paper, but more commonly hand sized. Once they start to produce a sharp point at the end this is a sign that the plant is going to bolt. The stalks and leaf veins become stringy and the leaves get smaller and smaller as the flower stem develops and the flavour changes slightly but they are still useful if you remove the stringy bits or they make a nice blended soup.

Amazon is hardy enough to grow over winter - sown in mid-August last year the plants gave a crop in the autumn and survived the winter frost protected only by insect mesh, although most of the leaves were damaged. It started to grow again in the spring and produced another good crop of leaves before bolting. The autumn and winter leaves are completely different to spring spinach, being thicker and slightly leathery in texture, but they still taste great. The spring leaves from these plants are the same as from a spring sowing, although most didn't grow as big.

Spinach does not grow well in summer - it will bolt even before it has formed leaves big enough for salads.

[Bren In Pots]

I grow both Medania and perpetual spinach, the main problems I've had are slugs and birds nibbling those tender leaves they seem to go for those rather than the chard.

[mrsbusy]

Spinach is one of my favourite vegetables and is top priority for spring sowing. It varies a lot between varieties as some have much bigger leaves than others. I have had most success with Amazon. The leaves change as the plant grows, starting off small, roundish and slightly crunchy - these are nice in salads. As the plant matures the leaves become bigger and increasingly diamond shaped, soft and great for cooking. At this stage in a good year Amazon can produce leaves the size of A4 paper, but more commonly hand sized. Once they start to produce a sharp point at the end this is a sign that the plant is going to bolt. The stalks and leaf veins become stringy and the leaves get smaller and smaller as the flower stem develops and the flavour changes slightly but they are still useful if you remove the stringy bits or they make a nice blended soup.

Amazon is hardy enough to grow over winter - sown in mid-August last year the plants gave a crop in the autumn and survived the winter frost protected only by insect mesh, although most of the leaves were damaged. It started to grow again in the spring and produced another good crop of leaves before bolting. The autumn and winter leaves are completely different to spring spinach, being thicker and slightly leathery in texture, but they still taste great. The spring leaves from these plants are the same as from a spring sowing, although most didn't grow as big.

Spinach does not grow well in summer - it will bolt even before it has formed leaves big enough for salads.

Thank you Penellype - that's useful - will save for future reference.