Best spinach for all round use?

[ipcressbaby]

Hello, everyone

Newbie here. Been growing veg for a few years. I'd like to have spinach available all year, and was hoping for some advice as to the best varieties.

I'm on the south coast, and grow veg in raised beds in a north facing garden.

Thanks

ipcressbaby

[Two_Sheds]

have you considered chard, aka leafbeet aka perpetual spinach? I've just been up the plot and picked some new baby leaves

[Kristen]

I agree with Chard aka aka ...

We get a long cropping season from it, and we plant some in the Autumn in the greenhouse for an early Spring crop.

[Jono]

Perpetual spinach is what you need. One sowing lasts me around nine months, so with some planning you can have it all year.

[Dottie]

Yep I grew perpetual spinach my first year and so pleased with it (I don't eat lettece), that I tried different spinach thereafter (don't know names). But this year I'm going back to perpetual, as it's a good steady grower. Other spinach was great, but when I'd picked it like I did with perpectual, it then shooted off into long stems, with lots of little leaves. Still ok as a spinach, but grew tall and messy.

I also grow chard, it will rainbow this year just for the colour, but I really only grow that as a sturdy winter crop and cook it in a casserole or curry. Whereas I like picking spinach all summer for a sarnie and stuff, as well as adding to a pot of freshly cooked rice. Unfortunately I don't have either in the ground at the moment, as they are sturdier than I am, so didn't get to sow any last year.

[ipcressbaby]

Thanks, everyone. Perpetual spinach it is. I do grow chard (what a fab vegetable - I like Sibilla from Real Seeds), but am keen on spinach because it has so many wonder nutrients in it.

[Two_Sheds]

One sowing lasts me around nine months, so with some planning you can have it all year.

if you let it go to seed you can have it all year

am keen on spinach because it has so many wonder nutrients in it.

All veggies have wonderful nutrients
We think of spinach as being great for iron, but our bodies can't absorb it very well (the Popeye myth)

[Kristen]

I grew perpetual spinach my first year and so pleased with it ... I also grow chard ... but I really only grow that as a sturdy winter crop

I grow Swiss Chard "Bright Lights", Spinach Beet "White Silver" (which I think is also called Sea Kale) and Leaf Beet "Rhubarb Chard" - and I had always assumed they were all the same thing as perpetual spinach - is that something different?

[Raymondo]

As far as I am aware, despite its name, Perpetual Spinach is just a variety of chard or leafbeet or whatever you want to call it. Botanically it's all Beta vulgaris.
What I call spinach is a different beast, botanically known as Spinacia oleracea. Varieties I like are Monoppa, Viroflay and Bloomsdale Long Standing.

[ipcressbaby]

Raymondo/Kristen - Why do you think chard varieties have quite dull names, but botanically correct spinaches all sound like they're named after Napoleonic battles?

Two Sheds - Thanks for that link. It's the lutein in spinach I'm particularly keen on, rather than the iron. Good for the eyes...

[Dottie]

I grow Swiss Chard "Bright Lights", Spinach Beet "White Silver" (which I think is also called Sea Kale) and Leaf Beet "Rhubarb Chard" - and I had always assumed they were all the same thing as perpetual spinach - is that something different?

I've just checked my box of veg seeds and it turns out my Chard is also Bright Lights. I knew I'd got it too look colourful on the plot, so in my mind I was thinking a rainbow of colours.

My old perpetual spinach seed that I still use, is Spinach Beet by Gardenline (Aldi).

I'm sure they are the same family, but as they are different varieties then there are very different in taste and looks.

The Chard I've grown and the photo on my new seed packet, shows the stems to be quite thick and benefit from chopping up separately from the leaves. The Chard leaves are dark green, quite a strong flavour and the actual leaf is firm and needs cooking.

The Spinach Beet I grow, has very slim stems that don't have to be chopped, and the leaves are a lovely light green, soft and ready to be eaten as they are, as well as just adding to dishes to wilt in hot rice etc.

The Spinach Leaf Beet "Rhubarb Chard" you mention, sounds closer to chard than spinach. So it seems likely that they are going to be very similar. I much prefer the spinach end of the family of Spinach Beet, compared to the Chard end of the family.

[Kristen]

Thanks for that Dottie - I'll keep my eye out for some seed that isn't Chard - you description matches my experience, although as a family we like the taste so it hasn't been a problem ... yet!

[JoeyG]

I planted perpetual spinach in a window box and it survived being frozen solid for over a month last winter, it also survived being under a couple of inches of snow - the leaves just refused to wither.

In the end I had to get rid of it as it had been left unused for too long (I just couldn't get to it in the bad weather)