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911±¬ÁÏ Growing Guides

How to grow spinach

Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Spinach.

  1. Getting Started
  2. Choosing
  3. Preparing the Ground
  4. Sowing
  5. Plant Care
  6. Harvesting
  7. Problems
1

Getting Started

Getting Started
Choosing
Section 1 of 7

Delicious and nutritious, spinach provides plentiful and repeated harvest. It’s a compact and speedy crop to fit in small spaces and containers, and can even be grown in light shade in warm weather. You can enjoy harvests for most of the year if you sow little and often.

Spinach produces large crops of tender, tasty leaves to enjoy in salads when young or cook lightly when larger. The leaves are packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, including iron, so are best eaten as fresh as possible for maximum goodness. Baby spinach leaves are particularly delicious raw, with a soft, succulent texture and mild flavour. 

Spinach is quick to grow, but needs fertile soil that doesn’t dry out. It does best in milder temperatures (ideally 15–20°C/60–70°F), as cold or hot, dry conditions can cause it to start flowering prematurely (bolting), putting an end to harvests. Sow in light shade in warmer weather to keep it cool, and water regularly. Protect spinach from slugs and snails, especially in damp conditions. 

These compact plants (up to 20cm/8in tall) are handy if space is tight and they can be grown in containers too. Spinach is also a useful crop for cooler, shady spots in early or late summer, out of midday heat. It needs full sun at other times of year.  

Sow small batches regularly and harvest as a cut and come again crop – you should get several pickings from each sowing, but do bear in mind this is a short-term crop that will eventually flower, as which point it should be removed. For early spring harvests, sow a hardy variety in late summer or early autumn and protect plants with cloches or fleece before the first frost.

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2

Choosing

There are many delicious varieties of annual spinach (Spinacia oleracea), for fast-growing, productive, short-term crops, to sow repeatedly. Savoy types have large puckered leaves, while smooth-leaved types have flat, more upright leaves and are generally more robust. 

Some varieties produce particularly large leaves or have attractive red stems. Some are resistant to bolting or downy mildew. For overwintering, take care to choose a hardy variety – check seed packets for sowing times.  
Ten varieties of spinach have an 911±¬ÁÏ Award of Garden Merit (AGM), which shows they performed well in trials – see our list of AGM fruit and veg for recommended varieties of spinach and many other crops. 

You can also choose perpetual spinach, for longer-term harvests for up to a whole year – this is useful if space is limited, as plants crop for many months. It’s a type of spinach/leaf beet or chard and is grown in a similar way to spinach – also see chard for more details.  

Various other crops have spinach in their common names, as they’re used in a similar way, but are often unrelated to annual spinach. Some cope better with summer heat. Examples include:  

  • New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides) – a tender plant that grows well in hot weather and full sun 

  • Tree spinach (Chenopodium giganteum) – a tall plant with pink young leaves 

  • Red mountain spinach or red orach (Atriplex hortensis var. rubra) – has attractive deep red foliage 

  • Malabar or Indian spinach (Basella alba) – a succulent-leaved, tender climber that needs very warm temperatures 

For more veg-growing inspiration, visit any of the 911±¬ÁÏ gardens, as they all grow wide range of quick and easy salad crops and much more. 

What and where to buy

Spinach seeds are widely available from most gardening retailers all year round. Packets usually contain plenty of seeds for repeated sowings.

Recommended Varieties

Showing 3 out of 5 varieties
3

Preparing the Ground

Before sowing, weed the area thoroughly. Spinach likes fertile, moisture-retentive soil, so dig in a couple of buckets of well-rotted manure or garden compost per square metre/yard. Firm the ground gently.  

Then scatter a general fertiliser over the area at a rate of 150g (5oz) per square metre/yard. Rake this in, while also levelling the ground and removing any large stones.

4

Sowing

Spinach can be sown in the ground or in containers. It likes fertile, moist soil or potting compost that doesn’t dry out. For best germination, avoid sowing in hot or cold temperatures, and choose hardy varieties for overwintering.

For continuous harvests, sow repeatedly every few weeks, but avoiding the hot summer months. You’ll get several pickings from each sowing as a cut and come again salad. If you’re going to cook your harvests, sow plenty, as spinach leaves reduce greatly in volume during cooking so you may need more than you expect.

Spinach is fast growing, so is useful for sowing in any short-term gaps in your veg plot, borders or patio containers. To make maximum use of space, you can also sow spinach among taller crops such as sweetcorn, which help to provide cooling shade in warm weather.

Sowing indoors

Spinach is usually best sown direct outdoors (see below), as transplanting can make it more prone to bolting (flowering prematurely). However, sowing individually in modules can help to minimise root disturbance.

Related 911±¬ÁÏ Guides
Vegetable seed sowing

Sowing outdoors

Sow spinach seeds outdoors into prepared ground (see above) – they germinate best in cool weather at the following times:  

  • mid- to late spring – for harvesting in late spring and summer. Avoid sowing too early in cold conditions, or sow under fleece, as early plants tend to flower prematurely (bolt). In hot weather, germination can be poor and plants tend to bolt, although flat-leaved varieties may cope better than Savoy types  

  • late summer to early autumn – sow hardy varieties for harvesting in autumn or early spring. Delay sowing if temperatures are still hot in late summer, to improve germination rates, but don’t leave it too late as plants need to be well established before winter weather sets in 

Scatter seeds thinly in drills 2.5cm (1in) deep and 20cm (8in) apart. Or sow in large containers filled with multi-purpose compost – these should be at least 30cm (1ft) wide and deep, so the compost doesn’t dry out too rapidly. Spinach can also be sown in growing bags. 

For continuous harvests, sow batches of spinach seeds every few weeks – see our guide to successional sowing.

Related 911±¬ÁÏ Guides
Successional sowing
To sow other similar crops, see our quick and easy container-growing guides: 

Thinning out

Thin out spinach seedlings to 7.5cm (3in) apart when large enough to handle, removing the smaller, weaker ones. A few weeks later, harvest every alternate plant for use in salads, giving the rest more room to grow.

If growing just for baby salad leaves rather than mature plants, thinning isn’t usually necessary.

5

Plant Care

Spinach needs little maintenance, apart from ongoing protection from slugs and snails and regular watering to prevent drying out.

Watering

Spinach is generally a thirsty crop, so water frequently, especially in dry spells. Seedlings and young plants are particularly vulnerable to drying out, as are plants in containers, so pay close attention to these. Dry conditions interrupt growth and lead to premature flowering (bolting), and young plants in particular can quickly wilt and die in hot, dry spells. 

The best time to water spinach is early in the morning, so plants don’t dry out during the day and can grow steadily. Avoid watering in the evening if possible, as damp conditions overnight can attract slugs and snails or fungal diseases such as downy mildew.

Related 911±¬ÁÏ Guides
Vegetables: watering

Mulching

Add a thick mulch of garden compost around the plants to help to hold moisture in the soil and deter weeds.

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Mulches and mulching

Weeding

Keep the site free of weeds, so young spinach seedlings don’t get overwhelmed by vigorous weeds or have to compete for water or light.  

Dense weeds can also provide hiding places for pests, such as snails, and hinder air circulation, which can lead to fungal diseases such as downy mildew.

Related 911±¬ÁÏ Guides
Controlling weeds

Flowering

Sooner or later, spinach will start to send up a tall flower stem and stop producing leaves. Hot, dry weather will often trigger earlier flowering (bolting), so water regularly to ensure consistent, steady growth and prolonged leaf production.  

Avoid growing spinach in hot weather, or sow in light shade and water regularly.  

When growing in a container, move it out of hot midday sun and water frequently, as potting compost can dry out rapidly. 

Once spinach plants have started to produce a flower stalk, remove them as they won’t provide any further crops of leaves.

Winter protection

Hardy varieties for overwintering should be covered with fleece or cloches from October onwards, except in mild locations. If growing in containers, these can be moved into a greenhouse, coldframe or bright porch before cold weather sets in. 

Early spring sowings should be given similar protection, to encourage germination and growth. 

6

Harvesting

You can pick delicious baby spinach leaves in as little as a month and mature leaves in just two.  

Spinach is easy to harvest as a cut and come again crop, in two ways: 

  • Take a few leaves from each plant along the row, making repeat pickings every few weeks until the plants eventually start to flower 

  • Wait until spinach plants are well established, after a couple of months, then harvest the whole crop of leaves at once, cutting just above the base. If plants have good roots, they should re-grow at least one more harvest. 

Young spinach leaves are tender and tasty used raw in salads, while larger leaves are best cooked very lightly – briefly steamed, sautéed or simply wilted into a whole range of dishes, including pastas, risottos, soups and more. When using in slow-cooked dishes such as stews and curries, add right near the end to preserve the nutrients. Spinach can also be whizzed into fruit smoothies. 

When cooking spinach, remember that the leaves greatly reduce in volume, so pick generous quantities. 

Spinach is best used fresh, for maximum flavour and nutrients – if left, it will wilt quickly. You can store leaves in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days, if necessary. Spinach also freezes well, for use in cooking whenever needed. 

7

Problems

Harvesting
Guide Start
Section 7 of 7

Soft, nutritious young spinach leaves are enjoyed by slugs and snails. Some birds also like to eat the seedlings, but a covering of fleece should prevent this.  

In hot, dry weather, spinach is prone to premature flowering (bolting), which puts an end to cropping. So keep plants well watered and choose bolt-resistant varieties, especially in warm weather.

Downy mildew may occur in warm, humid weather – thin out plants to at least 15cm (6in) apart and weed regularly to ensure good air circulation. Then choose a mildew-resistant variety for future sowings. 

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