new zealand spinach wouldn't come up

I am a first-time vegetable gardener. After soaking the seeds, we planted a row of new zealand spinach in June which never came up. We tried again in Sept - no luck. We have excellent soil and the garden is in full sun.

We also had trouble with sugar snap peas which we put in over Labor Day for a fall crop, but everything else in our garden did well.

Does anyone have any tips on how to grow these two veggies?

Thanks!

Not sure about the New Zealand Spinach at all, Farmerdill might be the guy to ask as he has great tips for growing veg, but the sugar peas should have done well, I know a lot of people find that mice and birds take the seeds of peas. I dont sow straight into the garden as I like to make sure germination has taken place first, then get then in the veg plot, so maybe till you get used to them try that way, for the peas though, try using a deeper root container as they do benefit from that when it comes to transplanting outdoors, you can use the cardboard inners from kitchen tissue or toilet rolls for them and when it's time to transplant, you just put the container into the soil also as it rots away, they do like a good bit of animal manure or rich compost to get going well as they are hungry feeders, pick them from the bottom first when they pod up as these are ready first, and also pick when small and tender, just when the pods start to fill up, they also need plenty watering . good luck. WeeNel.

WeeNel,
Thank you! I start tomatoes and eggplants indoors, so adding some peas to the repertoire won't be a problem. How big are your seedlings before you transplant outdoors?

You might try a nitrogen fixer medium on your peas before you plant. That's normally used for beans, but it works wonderufully. I normally sow mine direct and guide up a trellis, but I'm located in a milder climate zone and I do use a fixer on both peas and beans. I use a method of over seeding and then thin back when I get a set of true leaves on the plants. It really seems to give them an additional boost. We love fresh sugar snaps and I try to push the envelop to get some early.
Can't help with New Zealand spinach, that was a new on for me and not much info on the web that made sense to me.

Doccat5,

What is a nitrogen fixer medium? My only experience with nitrogen and veggies was when I fertilized tomatoes my first year growing them and I got more growth than fruit! To be safe, this year I just added compost to the entire garden and left nature to its own.

I recently bought a trellis for my beans, for this year they came up nicely but had no where much to climb - will use the trellis next spring! Could you tell me a little more about the nitrogen fixer medium?

Thanks!

Peckhaus, its called Inoculant. Sorry I wasn't clear, I had a momentary senior moment there, LOL. It's easy to use, inexpensive and I've greatly increased my yields with this stuff. Look under tools and supplies in any of the seed catalogs.

"Inoculants: Natural, peat-based cultures of beneficial bacteria for treating legume seeds prior to planting. Encourages formation of high-nitrogen nodules on roots for bigger plants, and better yields. Easy to use, just shake or stir with seeds before sowing. "

I grow my peas on trellis and follow with beans. I can plant lettuce, spinach and broccoli under them for shade for those. DH and I are looking around for the materials to make a homemade pea/bean teepee for the grandkids this year, just for fun.
You learns a valuable lesson with your tomatoes. Too much nitrogen gives you great foliage, not much fruit. :) That's ok, I hope you're keeping a journal. As time passes it will help you greatly. I also sketch out what I've planted and where, so I can rotate crops and avoid soil diseases.
I greatly admire you guys in the upper zones, that's a real short growing season and some of these folks gardens are just wonderful. Please feel free to dmail me if you need more information or have questions. I recently got my Master Gardener Intern certificate. I do believe I might be able to score some volunteer hours ( I need 50 to get the main cert) if I bring in a print out of correspondence with other gardener's I've been helping. With their permission of course. Worth a shot, Our extension agent is a great guy. If not, no big deal, I love to talk gardening.
Do you have a compost bin then, I notice you said you composted your garden. You can add additional compost as a side dressing. I haven't bought commercial fertilizer for my veggies for years. And we garden organically, I don't use pesticides or insecticides. I do however, use every organic method I can get my hands on to help my crops. Interplanting with flowers that repel insects is one way, besides their purty and soothing. LOL

Hello Peckhaus,

'New Zealand' spinach does tend to be a bit tough to get going. The plants seem to produce a lot of sterile seeds so germination is naturally low. To put it into perspective, the Federal Seed Act germination requirement for standard (true) spinach varieties is 60%. However, the requirement for 'New Zealand' spinach is only 40%.'

Soaking the seeds as you tried can help but scarifying (nicking the seed coat) seems to help more. Additionally, like you are doing with your tomatoes, you might want to try starting the seeds indoors. This allows you to better control the germination environment.

The following is a link to more information on my site. On the listing there you will see a link to more information. Hope this helps.

Mike

http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/vegetable/greens.html#Zealand

Dear Mike

Thank you for the helpful information! I chose NZ spinach because my grandfather grew it and it seems to tolerate mid-summer temps. Would you have a recommendation for another kind of spinach? In the meantime, I'll begin some indoors this spring. Thank you!

For mid-summer, 'New Zealand' is a good choice. It does not get bitter and since it is not really spinach, it does not bolt. Most spinach varieties available, at least the OP ones that I am familiar with, will bolt.

About New zealand spinach - I gather the seeds (actually the fruit containg several seeds) from last year's crop to start for this year's crop. Of course this assumes you HAD a crop last year. And I do buy seeds as well. Soak the seeds at least 24 hours, then notch the seeds and soak again. This should improve the germination rate, but it's still slow and iffy. The plant is actually a perennial but a very tender one. In zone 5, where I garden, I pot up my plants and bring them in to my green house for the winter before the frost can get them. If you are not blessed with a greenhouse, try a sunny window or under lights in the warmest part of your house. And try starting your seeds (gathered or bought) indoors in January or February to give the pesky things a chance to germinate at their own dawdling pace.