Spinach!

[sweetcorn]

When I had an allotment, I never had problems growing spinach, but since we've moved and I can grow veggies at home, I've struggled! It's been slow to germinate and spindly then almost immediately bolted.

I have just planted some in a tray in the greenhouse, is this a good idea? I was going to use the leaves for salad - and when is the best time to plant outside? It says from March on the packet, but that's what I did last year!

Our soil is very heavy, and I've been trying to improve it with muck and compost, but it's still v. v. full of clay - would that have a bearing on it's success or otherwise?

[Eyren]

When I had an allotment, I never had problems growing spinach, but since we've moved and I can grow veggies at home, I've struggled! It's been slow to germinate and spindly then almost immediately bolted.

I have just planted some in a tray in the greenhouse, is this a good idea? I was going to use the leaves for salad - and when is the best time to plant outside? It says from March on the packet, but that's what I did last year!

It depends on the variety as to the best time to sow, but now should be fine - I sowed my first batch (Bloomsdale) indoors three weeks ago and will be sowing outdoors (Matador) in a week or two. We love spinach, but since it cooks down so much, we need to grow loads!

Our soil is very heavy, and I've been trying to improve it with muck and compost, but it's still v. v. full of clay - would that have a bearing on it's success or otherwise?

Could be. I grew it for the first time last year, in a raised bed that is about 1/3 topsoil, 2/3 compost, and it thrived (though the mild spring followed by plenty of rain may have helped!). I'm going to try some on the lottie, which is quite clayey and also slug-prone, so I'm not optimistic - but we'll see!

[SarzWix]

The only real success I've had with spinach is in a grow bag for salad leaves. In the lottie beds (also clayish) I've ended up going for perpetual spinach, not quite the same, but it didn't bolt

[zazen999]

I dibble spinach seeds randomly around my [module sown] lettuce and salad leaves. When there's a space spare, a few more get sown. In conjunction with organic slug pellets, or the whole lot would go.

I do start them off in modules as well, and transplant in batches.

I recently bought the 'Franchi' spinach, and have used perpetual in the past so I'll have to see what the difference is.

If I had a clay lottie [which I have] and had to grow salads there [which I don't], I'd make up small raised beds and half-fill with home made compost, for the salads. Then, mix it in with some sieved lottie clay to try and keep the moisture in.

[sweetcorn]

I have got raised beds, and have been madly adding loads of soil improver. The variety we like is 'Bordeaux'. Anyone used this one?

Does amount of light affect it too? I thought it would prefer some shade as it doesn't like hot conditions. We have a north facing garden, but the veggie bit is at the bottom (therefore facing south!) however, there are trees around that cast some shade at times during the day.

[Eyren]

I've just ordered some "Bordeaux" (I was on Sarah Raven's website buying something else, and couldn't resist adding a few extra goodies to my basket ), so I'm looking forward to trying it.

It does like cool conditions, so either cool damp weather, or semi-shade if it's warm and sunny. My raised beds are near the house in my south-facing back garden, so this year I'm going to try a row of climbing beans at the south end of one bed to provide shade for the leafy crops, and grow outdoor tomatoes in the other.

[gojiberry]

Early sown spinach and swiss chard will often go to seed fairly quickly. The art is to make successional sowings right up to September.

Ian