Spinach

thinking of spinach for the spring.
does it contiune to grow if you trim leaves off or are they a one shot planting?

Harvest two ways: take a few tender leaves from each plant, and leave the rest to continue growing, or, harvest the entire plant and it's gone.

I've learned that quite a few people sow the seeds rather densely, in order to "thin as they grow," generally by removing several entire plants (usually at the baby microgreens stage), leaving space for the others to continue growing into full size spinach.

It's the best of both worlds! Have your cake and eat it, too!

Linda, who's burning daylight on sowing her own spinach seeds, and won't have ANYTHING to harvest at ANY stage, if she doesn't get with it!

Hugs!

Have you guys ever tried the Mexican Spinach? It is a vine and loves hot weather. I understand it is not really a true spinach but the leaves are real similar in appearance and tastes the same in a salad or cooked. I've been racking my brain for the name of it but am having a senior moment. It also will self seed if you have it where you can leave it. Mine has been seeding itself for about 5 years.

oh i know what your talking about jim! it grows very vigorously. havent grown it personally, but family have and its used just the same as spinach, and you can make cuttings from the vine. well im guessing we're talking about the same thing :)
*ok i just checked. i was wrong. i thought you were talking about poi, not the elephant ear hawaiian type, but the round, thick leaved caribbean type. sorry for the misunderstanding :p

This message was edited Nov 16, 2011 4:48 PM

Malabar spinach?

Perhaps Strawberry Spinach or New Zealand (tetragone) Spinach? I believe they both vine, with the Strawberry Spinach producing little berries. Both will reseed if you let them. I managed to keep the Straberry Spinach alive and growing this past summer and I liked it. Don't know if it will reseed itself after this past radical summer. Hope so. Want to try the New Zealand next.

Always up for an adventure--Terri

yes! malabar spinach. at least now i know actual names, although poi spinach is correct i guess its uncommon. - i dont think its the new zealand or strawberry, they dont look like it. the malabar looks exactly like the plant i was thinking of. thanks :)

Spinach is a cool weather perennial. We plant ours in the fall and it carries through to spring with a double cover over it. You are in zone 8 so it seems like you should be able to go without the covers for most of the winter.

Malabar is a hot weather vine. I’ve not eaten it but have heard that it doesn’t taste like spinach.

EB-with the weather we are having. You could try sowing some cool weather spinach now. Once it gets established it should do fine even if it freezes, i never cover any of my cool weather crops. Ive grown and eaten Malabar. I dont think it tastes like spinach either. Cool weather spinach needs cool soil to germinate. It germinates best in soil that is 40-55 degrees, so your not too late.

Malabar is what I was talking about. I think it tastes just like spinach. We make salads with it and cook it as well. I carried some to my heart doctor and he thought it was regular spinach. Guess my taste buds aren't as educated as some.

Could be it tastes different depending on the local climate and soil conditions. Interesting to know that you find it tastes the same as spinach.

Bro. Jim,
I tried it, and I agree. It doesn't taste like any spinach I've ever eaten. I wondered if it was the particular variety, or what. I would have to train my taste buds to enjoy Malabar. I have a co-worker who kept raving about it, so I planted some.

If there are varietal differences, I could be persuaded to try it again. It had a really pungent, earthy taste -- and I love greens, BTW!

Linda

Maybe I let the leaves get too old. It thrived here through the terrible heat, the heat may have had something to do with the flavor. I didn't mind the taste but it just didn't taste like spinach.

hm, sounds like malabar can taste different to each person. i thought it was like spinach and since it could be used like spinach i didnt notice a difference until i saw the plant itself. but my experience with it all happend in new york. since i moved here i havent seen/heard of it.

1Lisac,
Can I germinate regular spinach seeds in a flat in the fridge?

I would do it in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel in the fridge. Iguess you could stick the whole flat in there. You may want to soak the seeds first.

I'm surprised about wanting to germinate the spinach in a fridge. Out of curiousity why do you want to use the fridge?

Below is a URL for a blog showing TX four planting calendars. Three of the four of the links are active and show spinach planting into the middle of November. BTW - We tend to row cover ours if the temps are running a bit cold or put a shade cloth on it if it's too warm.

http://roundrockgarden.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/vegetable-planting-dates-for-central-texas/

It's almost 85 degrees out today...

oh jeez, same here. its been overcast and humid for the past few days, a little uncomfortable for me. the plants dont seem to mind though except for the wind today. now i feel like planting spinach :p

That sounds nice and hot. We'r eon the other end of that. It's been warmer today but then we had a low on Wednesday of 29 DegF.

I'm looked on-line and I'm seeing a higher soil temperature tolerance for germination. Both the listing for Kansas State ( 55-70)and Alabama (45-75) extension list a broader temp range. Alabama lists a optimum temp of 70 and a max temp of 85.


http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf315.pdf
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1061/ANR-1061.pdf

You don't have to refrigerate it. I've always had higher rate of germination if it's cooler and a while ago LisaP posted a link regarding soil temps and germination. Spinach was the one veggie that consistently liked cooler temps. I would germinate it in the fridge then direct sow it.

I think it's easier to trick it in to germinating then put up a shade cloth. Once it germinates it should grow fine. I know if the ambient temp is 85 the soil temp is warmer.

there a reason to pre germinate them?

Because spinach doesn't germinate well in hot temps. You can try to direct sow but generally you will get lower germination rates and germination will take longer.

We always planted Spinach about the first of March. I've never tried it in the fall.

You should see my cabbage and broccoli, Gymgirl. Most of the cabbage are about the size of a volley ball and I have cut dinner plate size broccoli. Some of the secondary heads are as big as my hand.

Would Broccoli grow in N Texas?

And how big of a container would you need.

I would think it would but maybe someone closer to you could give you a better reading. I imagine you would have to have something about 5 gal. bucket size. It grows a stalk about 3 ft. tall. I have 6 plants and they made more than my wife and I can eat. They have put on a lot of second growth heads now and they are big enough to harvest. I think a hard freeze will probably kill them but a light frost doesn't botther them at all. We have had two big frosts and I slipped a garbage bag over them and they did fine.

This is my first try at growing spinach, so this thread interests me. I bought a packet of Malabar Spinach at a health food store, thinking it was just another variety of regular spinach. Now I'm learning from your posts that I may have been wrong. I am in Coastal Georgia, border of zones 8 and 9. My Malabar spinach seedlings are not doing much, don't seem to be growing, just sitting out there in the garden. Did I plant it at the wrong time of year? Or should I just leave it and see what happens?

6.5 pool chemical buckets. My past Broccolis have enjoyed temps Down into the mid-40s. Can withstand hard freezes with cover, long as it's just overnight or just a couple nights in a row. They seem to stall when temps go above 80 degrees.

I have a whole tray of totally fainted seedlings. Forgot to turn the AC on and it was 84 degrees. I sprinkled em n turned the air down to 70. They stood up in 20 minutes.
I'll germinate those spinach seeds in the fridge. We're in the 80s all this week, and my whole crop is just sitting there, NOT growing. I have exactly one heading broccoli.

EB, if your temps get down into the mid-40s consistently, you can grow wonderful brocs!

This one's for you...

Were you get those buckets?

could you go say to a pool supply store and get them for free?

milesdt-Malabar "Spinach" is a tropical plant that thrives in hot weather. So to answer your question, I think you probably would have better luck with regular spinach now and Malabar when it warms up next spring.

GG-Im not sure about the advice I gave you regarding the spinach. According to my chart and my experience it germinates fastest at around 50*, which is warmer then your refridge. At 40+* you should get a higher germination rate but it will take longer. You may want to try taking some chilled spinach seeds out of the refridge and sowing them and see how they do. It would be an experiment but it might be worth a try.

I've grown broc here for several years. Both spring and fall planted. It did fine.

Like your buckets Gym Girl. My neighboe gave me some buckets you would die for. They are about 3 ft. across and about that tall made out of real heavy plastic. He buys cattle feed in them in the winter. Said he had about 100 scattered over his pasture. I picked up a couple to repot some of the wife's big ferns in.

I got brand new 5 gallon buckets at Walmart for $2.50 each.

BTW, if I can find some seeds for regular spinach within the next 2 or 3 weeks, it's not to late to plant in my zone (borderline 8/9), is it?

If the weather stays like this, you should be fine with spinach now.

Southern New Jersey is an interesting Place. I've been growing my Organic Garden's for around four Years now, and shared a lot from it. I'm not originally from here but have Built my House here and raised my Children.
I spent my Youth between, Boston and a Family Farm in Maine, went into the Military, and then enjoyed a good Family Life to Date, raising my children, enjoying the Love of a Wife, and given the opportunity to take time to enjoy the Day to Day, even in these turbulent time's, I fear No Evil, let him come to me. To have people, stranger's even, rebuilding tiller's, and handing them to you, and telling you they're your's, offering to help in your garden's, without asking for anything in return, amazes me, actually it brings me closer to who we should be, and many here are, that is why I smile everytime I come here, and read your Word's of wisdom...Yes my Celery is doing amazing, Happy Holiday's to all of you, and God Bless.

MrPappyG ~ Did you start your celery from seed? When? Inside or outside? How long does it take? I want to grow celery for the first time, and even the seed packet tells me it is challenging.

I grow Amaranthus dubius instead of spinach. It cooks like it, but the plants grow way bigger and they do grow very fast. And best, it doesn't have the aftertaste that cooked spinach often has. I fry onion and garlic and add the cleaned and stripped and cut up Amaranthus dubius, steam until soft and enjoy.

Amaranthus dubius. Sounds interesting. Where did you get the seeds? And is it a cool season crop, like spinach, or does it like warm weather?

paradacrades - if you Google "Amaranthus dubius seeds" several sellers will come up.

http://www.krika.com/Tropical%20Garden/Montserrat%20Tropical%20Garden%20S.html#Spinach