started these on march 7th in and repotted them into these 2 1/2 containers a few days ago. will begin hardening them off and hope to put them in my outside containers the first week in april. never tried spinach. do i have the right timetable. also, when i put these outside for good i will also sow some seeds directly into containers outside. is this a good plan?? thanks
You should be fine Herbie, your seedlings look good. Take care with your transplanting, of course. It will be interesting to see if your direct seeded spinach catches up. Keep us posted.
roseone - i was given the spinach seeds from a co-worker. when i read the package it said that this spinach can be planted in the spring, summer and fall and that it can handle heat and cold. i kind of doubt it but i will see what happens.
Herbie, you're right on schedule. Spinach is a cool weather crop and should thrive right now in your zone 5b. It can take some frost and light freezes. It will usually bolt to seed what the weather gets hot.
gonna set them out on wednesday (my day off)
Good job Frank, They will probably do great.
Seems like you're also having unseasonably warm weather up there. Down here it felt like mid summer yesterday, way too hot for March.
Herb -- I'm growing spinach for the very first time. I direct seeded in one Eb in which I planted six(three per side) and they sprouted in a week. My only concern with them is the "leaf miner?" They could destroy a crop so I'll have to have some type of preventative system. I'll do some further studying. Are you planting yours in-ground?
I direct seeded spinach into a 5 gallon container earlier this year and it's growing very nicely. I love to pick to the leaves when they are very small so have planted them quite closely. I kept the container covered in clear plastic with a few holes punched in it until they had germinated. I keep it in a spot that gets mostly morning sun. The only time I've had problems with leaf miners is when I plant spinach in the ground and then no matter what I did I couldn't get rid of them. They've not been a problem so far in the container.
Here's a picture of my pretties.....
tplant - everything will be going into containers. i will direct seed outdoors some more spinach and some thumb thumb lettuce into containers sometime in early april
this is one of the containers i plan to put my spinach and lettuce into. nmight even place them both in the same container
this containers is 15" wide at the bottom, 19" wide at the top and 8" deep. that should be good enough for the lettuce and spinach don't you think??
frank - did you put holes in those or are you going to put smaller pots inside of them? I am using 2 of mine (thank you very much!) for Morning Glories out on the perimeter benches. I'm planting the MG's in smaller pots, then placing 3 pots per large container. Last year I had trouble with the smaller pots getting blown over and I do believe this will remedy THAT problem. Now if only I can figure out a way to disguise the pots. I dare say they will clash with the MG's big time!
thank you so much for reminding me about that (putting smaller pots inside the big one.)
i have a few of those big cntainers and last year i wanted to put a five gallon container in the middle with a tomato plant inside it and then put MG inside the big container and plant either some flowers or, now i am thinking, i might but either spinach seeds or tom thumb lettuce seeds. of course i will put holes in the bottom of the big container.
Oh, that would look very cute! Nice idea Perhaps I will try that in my other one. A mix of trailing flowers and Dwarf Marigolds would look very nice together, and would suit the set-up very nicely. I have been bringing in carloads of "soil" daily. I swear, the next car will be a truck!
do you think it is safe to put my spinach plants outside or should i wait a few more days""
do you think is safe also to start lettuce and more spinach seeds outside??
thanks
I would say yes. As long as the ground isn't frozen hard you can go ahead with those. Lettuce is more tender than spinach but it will probably make it just fine. You can always cover it up if you have a very cold late hard freeze. Good luck.
I'm going to attempt some outside spinach today, but I think I'm going to hold off on the lettuce another week or so. It got mighty cold out there last night and I don't think we're done with the freezing. Do you have glass you can place on them for the cold frame effect?
yhou're kidding. i'm not even sure i know exactly how a cold frame works. LOL it was quite chilly when i got up this mornng at 4 a.m.
And it stayed pretty darn chilly all day! On the rare occasions the wind died down it was warmish, but those moments were brief and few.
its 3:15 a.m. and its downright cold outside. you're probably asking why i am outside checking the weather. well, last night my wife asked me to shake out the 3 rugs in the bathroom so she can wash them and wanted to take as much dust and powder off them as possible. i do rent out y0ou know. LOL
my spinach is growing each and every day.
Herbie. I just sowed spinich seed outside Monday. Also turnips, peas and daikon radish. They should all come thru the last freezes. I planted in March last year too.
