🍃 Perpetual spinach

Perpetual spinach, also called spinach beet or leaf beet, is a reliable, hard-working relative of chard that gives you spinach-style leaves almost all year. Unlike true spinach, it resists bolting in summer and tolerates cold, shade and poor soil.

It is a good choice for beginners and for those who find spinach difficult: one sowing in spring can crop for up to eighteen months. The leaves are slightly coarser than true spinach but cook just as well and have a mild, earthy flavour.

Varieties to try

Perpetual Spinach (the standard spinach beet)Erbette (tender, Italian type)Verde da Taglio (Italian cutting chard)Green Pearl (reliable leaf beet)

Sow in March to July in shallow drills 2–3 cm deep, 30–45 cm apart, in ordinary garden soil in sun or partial shade. The seeds are corky clusters, so thin seedlings to the strongest when 5 cm tall, finishing at 20–30 cm apart. A second sowing in August gives winter leaves.

You can also sow into modules in March and April and plant out, which is useful if slugs are a problem. Perpetual spinach does well in large containers of at least 20 cm depth, and can be picked as baby leaf from only four to five weeks.

Top tips

• Thin to the strongest seedling per cluster.
• Sow in August for winter leaves.
• Choose partial shade in hot spots.
• A 20 cm pot is enough for baby leaf.

This is a low-effort crop. Water in dry weather to keep the leaves tender, and mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds. Feed with a general fertiliser a couple of times in summer. Cut off flower stems in the second year to keep the plants cropping.

Slugs, leaf miner and birds are the main problems. Pinch off damaged leaves and use nets or fleece when seedlings are young. In cold regions, cover winter plants with a cloche. Replace plants after 12–18 months, when they tend to run to seed.

Top tips

• Mulch to cut watering and weeding.
• Remove flower stems to extend picking.
• Protect winter plants with a cloche.
• Resow every year or so.

Watch out for

SlugsLeaf minerBirds on seedlingsDowny mildew

Pick leaves when they are 10–15 cm long, a few from each plant at a time, working from the outside in. Regular cutting encourages new growth. Young leaves are the tenderest and can be eaten raw in salads, whereas older ones should be cooked.

Plants will often crop right through winter in sheltered gardens and send up flower stems in the second spring. Remove these to extend the harvest, and clear the old plants in summer once they become tough and bitter, replacing them with a new sowing.

Top tips

• Pick regularly from the outside in.
• Use young leaves raw.
• Remove flower stems promptly.
• Replace old plants after 18 months.

Cook perpetual spinach like true spinach: wilt it in a pan with garlic, stir it into curries, soups, pasta and bakes, or use it in pies and omelettes. The leaves are sturdier than spinach, so allow a couple of extra minutes. The midribs are edible when young, or can be chopped finely.

Fresh leaves keep for three to four days in a bag in the fridge, but it is easier to leave them growing and pick as needed. To freeze, wash, blanch for two minutes, squeeze out the water and freeze in portions.

Top tips

• Wilt with garlic and a squeeze of lemon.
• Cook slightly longer than true spinach.
• Squeeze water out before freezing.
• Use young leaves raw.