Growing spinach

  • Space plants 3 to 6 inches apart (definitely 6 inches apart for ‘Abundant Bloomsdale’ which is a stockier plant).

  • Before planting, add some general purpose fertilizer and a little compost to the soil.

  • Spinach prefers cooler weather and will bolt (bloom) when the weather warms.

  • Harvest baby greens at 3 to 4 inches. Mature leaves can be harvested from the outside of the plant to prolong harvest.

    PLEASE NOTE: The plants on my farm table have NOT been hardened off. They are straight from the greenhouse.
    You can do one of the following:
    1. Expose them gradually to outdoor conditions over a week
    -OR (as I do)-
    2. Plant them immediately and give them protection from excess sun, wind, and rain for a week or two.

Abundant Bloomsdale

55 days. An improved savoyed spinach that boasts cold tolerance and high yields. Best as an early spring crop or for fall harvests. Abundant Bloomsdale produces large super-savoyed, substantial leaves. Grow as a mature spinach plant. (Hudson Valley Seed)

With its extra thick and deeply puckered delicious leaves, ’Abundant Bloomsdale’ is my favorite spinach by far —which is fortunate since I spilled a large packet of it on the greenhouse floor. Those spilled seeds all had to be planted, so now I have abundant spinach plants to share. They also spilled into the vermiculite I use to top off seed plantings, so you may get random spinach plants in many other offerings here at the farm table. Oops!

Lavewa

28-45 days. Lavewa is an open pollinated variety that competes with hybrids for flavor, heat tolerance, and mildew resistance. Rich green, glossy, 6 inch slightly puckered leaves on productive plants. (Botanical Interests)


Regiment

37 days. Making the most of your spinach plantings, this robust and substantial variety produces thick, broad leaves from both spring and fall cultivation. Regiment’s tolerance of cooler soils ensures strong germination and seedling performance in early spring, producing speedy crops of flavorful, dark green, arrowhead-shaped, semi-savoyed leaves. Late sowings yield excellent fall harvests. Slow to bolt. F1 hybrid variety. (Johnny’s Selected Seed)

Photos and descriptions are from the seed company catalogs.
These are the varieties offered on the farm table in 2024.

Spinach ‘Lizard’ seedlings in the greenhouse - WILLS FARM.

Spinach ‘Abundant Bloomsdale’ - Hudson Valley Seed photo.

Spinach ‘Lavewa’.

Spinach ‘Regiment’ - Johnny’s Selected Seed photo.