Spinach going yellow at the edges

[beng165]

Hi everyone, I've just gotten into growing veg, did potatoes last year, added rocket spinach, kale and peas this year. My spinach has been very prolific, providing bags and bags of leaves. I was away for a couple of weeks and when I returned I found the plants a few inches taller,but with yellow edges to the leaves. it begins as just a yellow tinge to the very outside edge, but moves in and develops into what you see below. Nearly all the plants have a few affected leaves, some worse than others. I was worried that it could be some kind of fungal thing as it's been very humid recently, so I removed all the affected leaves, which took forever! Unfortunately it has returned. I don't fancy spraying it considering I want to eat the leaves raw in sandwiches. I found something about this possibly being due to nitrogen deficiency, I mixed in plenty of well rotted horse manure before I planted them, but nothing since. Thanks for your help.

[Thelma Sanders]

It just looks as if the sun is scalding them, to me. The tops look as if they are on the way to bolting - so perhaps it's time to sow some more
Feed the soil with some Blood, Fish & Bone, if the new ones are going to go in the same place.

[Penellype]

It will have got too hot and been scorched. Mine did very much the smae thing, and then bolted. Spinach really doesn't like hot weather, which tends to make it bolt.

[beng165]

I'm not sure if they've bolted, there don't seem to be any flowers yet (I had a google to see what they looked like), they started going yellow 10 days ago. I put lots of nice horse manure round the roots and washed it in. They still seem to be going yellow, I might have to give up soon.

[teakdesk]

If they are true spinach then it is most likely just the heat we have had this summer. True spinach likes it cool so really only works if sown early in the year and harvested before the summer heat or down later in the year and harvested before frosts.

If you sow Perpetual Spinach which is a beet or chard rather than actual spinach then it will grow all spring and summer long and you can harvest leaves when you need them all year round - even in winter! Next year they will continue to grow and can be used for a few years.