[fatbelly]

Hi All,
Mrs FB wants me to grow some spinach this season. I have never grown it and would like some tips on what variety when to sow & harvest etc etc. What pests bother them? Do I have to net against the Flying Rats?

Any advice at all please 

[3759allen]

i found mine grew really well last year in the poly tunnel, the ones i planted outside seemed to grow slowly and thick and rough, but in the tunnel was really quick and lush. but this could just be me.

pigeons wasn't a problem for me, slugs and snails seem the only problem for me.

i harvested little and often and new growth grew after cutting so unless you want lots at one time you don't have to re plant.

[New shoot]

I grew a couple of nice crops of Mikado last year.  Its a fairly low growing variety and did well under a net tunnel.  The birds on my site seem to peck anything and everything green, bar chard, so I didn't take the chance.

Spinach tends to bolt in hot weather, but I have some shadier areas and the tunnels helped as well.  Mikado produces the little bunched oriental style plants, so I picked the whole plant at once.  Its fast growing, so if you have a couple of tunnels on the go, you can keep a ready supply 

[mumofstig]

I succeed spring and autumn with Medania. Sometimes it fets flea beetle holes which don't look good, so netting is probably the best option 

[sunshineband]

I grew perpetual spinach last year, following first early potatoes and planting out module grown plants . It is not a true spinach but tastes like one!

It is still going strong, and amazingly the pigeons (which seem to eat everything else) have left it alone.

I pick the young leaves and it has been very prolific indeed.

[pigguns]

 I grew Medina as well, chucked it thickly in under the tomatoes and it did just fine, slugs an issue early on and later. was in shade of sweetcorn for the hottest months.  Going to try Callaloo (Amaranth) this year, Jamaican spinach which grows like weeds for west Indian plot holders near me, and is apparently slug proof! 

[peedee555]

im sure it will be nice but tho i aint so keen on the birds ( we get lots of pheasant and ravens ) or the slugs would be wary if they didnt have a go at the crop ..what they know we dont 

[Yorkie]

Don't forget the possibilities of chard - either plain coloured or rainbow (Bright Lights).  It's another member of the leaf beet family.

[Trillium]

I grow the old standard Bloomsdale, and it loves lots of nitrogen being a leafy veg. If you have alfalfa pellets, that'll do just fine, or regular manure tea.

Plant succession crops about a week apart to extend your growing time. Pick the outer leaves while still young and the inner leaves will continue to grow.

[Snoop]

I grow Scenic. As far as I can tell, spinach is one of the easiest crops ever to grow. Good germination and highly productive if harvested as cut-and-come-again. The only problem is that the leaves tend to get a bit splashed with mud, so need to be washed well. Mulching would probably help with that.

[Fisherman]

As per sunshineband, perpetual spinach is easy to grow and trouble free. Mine is still growing strong from an April 2013 sowing, but it has been very mild. My Swiss Chard (same family) is also still growing well.

Note - Perpetual spinach is better cooked than used in salads unless very young.

[Robster]

Like others I have grown Medina.  I sow an early crop outdoors in a fairly shady place.  Never the less it still bolts but I get a couple of cuts.  Then the chard takes over which is a great crop.  In fact I put an autumn sown chard transplanted into the green house soil for a crop before the tomatoes go in. 

[marcofez]

I grow my spinach in modules and then plant them out in a shady place. I also cover them with a cloche with green debris netting to shade them a little. Works for me!
Also great plant for the autumn/winter inside/outside.