🍀 Spinach

Spinach is a cool-season leaf crop that gives tender, sweet leaves in spring and autumn, often a month before the summer salad crops arrive. It is quick to grow, tolerates part shade and is happy in containers.

The main challenge is bolting, which spinach does readily in heat, drought or long days. Sow at the right time, keep the soil moist, and choose slow-bolting varieties, and you will get a heavy crop. In summer, grow perpetual spinach or chard instead.

Varieties to try

Medania (slow to bolt)Amazon (heavy cropper, good flavour)Giant Winter (very hardy, for autumn sowing)Reflect (F1, good mildew tolerance)Bloomsdale (crinkled leaves)

Sow outdoors in rows 30 cm apart from March to April for spring crops, and from August to September for autumn and winter crops. Sow seeds 2–3 cm deep, thinly, and thin to 10–15 cm for full-size plants, or leave them close and cut as baby leaf. Soaking seed overnight can help germination.

Spinach prefers cool, moist, fertile, slightly alkaline soil, so add lime if yours is very acid, and dig in compost to hold moisture. In summer, sow in partial shade or choose bolt-resistant varieties. Autumn crops can be protected with cloches in cold areas.

Top tips

• Sow in spring and autumn, not midsummer.
• Choose slow-bolting varieties.
• Sow little and often, every two to three weeks.
• Lime acid soil before sowing.

Water regularly, as dry soil triggers bolting, and mulch to keep the roots cool and moist. Feed with a nitrogen-rich fertiliser if the leaves turn pale. Keep weeds down, hoeing carefully, as spinach roots are shallow.

Downy mildew, leaf miner, slugs and aphids are the main problems. Remove affected leaves and avoid overcrowding to improve air flow. A pinch of fleece in spring protects against cold snaps and flea beetle, and also helps against leaf miner.

Top tips

• Water to prevent bolting.
• Pinch off leaves affected by leaf miner.
• Do not crowd plants.
• Cover autumn crops with a cloche.

Watch out for

Downy mildewLeaf minerSlugsBolting in heat or drought

Begin picking baby leaves from about four weeks, taking a few from each plant and leaving the centre to produce more. Full leaves are ready at about 8–10 cm long, from six to eight weeks. Pick from the outside of the plant, working inwards. Pick in the morning for the best flavour.

If plants start to bolt, harvest the whole lot right away, because the leaves turn bitter. Winter sowings can be picked sparingly through winter and give a big flush in early spring. Pull out the plants after harvesting and replace with a different crop.

Top tips

• Pick little and often from the outside.
• Harvest the whole plant if it starts to bolt.
• Pick in the morning.
• Leave a few leaves on each plant to keep it growing.

Eat baby leaves raw in salads and sandwiches, or wilt larger leaves in a pan with garlic and a squeeze of lemon in a couple of minutes. Spinach goes well in curries, pies, quiches, soups, pasta and omelettes. Cook it briefly to keep its colour and flavour; a large bowlful shrinks to a few spoonfuls.

Fresh leaves keep for three to five days in the fridge in a bag, so eat them soon after picking. To freeze, wash, blanch for one minute, cool quickly, squeeze out the water and freeze in portions. Spinach also makes a good soup that freezes well.

Top tips

• Squeeze out excess water after cooking.
• Blanch for one minute before freezing.
• Add to curries and soups at the last minute.
• Remove thick stalks from large leaves.