Cooked or in a salad, spinach (Spinacia oleracea ), vegetable plant popularized by Popeye, can be cooked in all sauces. Do you want to grow spinach on a square in your vegetable patch? Respect the calendar and the sowing methods to hope for good harvests.
You will start by locating a plot where the soil, mainly clayey, is consistent and cool. Enrich it with homemade compost, manure or horticultural soil before the planned sowing date. Make sure, moreover, that the square is not too exposed and that it benefits from a lot of shade. Remember that the sun causes the plant to bloom too quickly and the bolting will take place faster than you would like.
Make furrows 2-3 cm deep and line them up about 25 cm apart. After planting the seeds, cover them with potting soil or light soil, and water with a fine rain.
When the temperature conditions are met - oscillating between 13° and 15° -, you will be able to observe the emergence between the 7th and the 10th day. Wait until the seedlings have grown enough and have 3 or 4 leaves. At this point, it will be time to thin out the plants to give each one enough room to grow. Then establish a space of about 15 cm between each foot. Since spinach likes nitrogen-rich soils, consider combining your crops so that their neighborhood provides it. Plant next to peas, beans or fava beans.
The planting of spinach seeds can be done at different times of the year, theoretically from March to October, depending on the external conditions and the varieties. The months of September/October are well suited for autumn sowing. From March to June, you will proceed with your spring sowing, taking care to protect them under tunnel until at least April. It is better to avoid summer sowing because too much heat causes spinach to seed too quickly, which limits their production.
It is also worth pointing out that your plot will have to be left for 3 to 4 years after harvest to receive spinach again because the plant is relatively exhausting for the soil.
Also, avoid sowing spinach near cucumbers and red beets. Also be sure to monitor the growth of your plants to quickly take the necessary precautions in the event of a threat from slugs and snails.
Know that downy mildew is the main disease that can attack spinach. If you notice rounded yellow discolorations on a few leaves, verging on purplish in places, this means that your plants are affected. Doom the affected plants to prevent spread to the whole bed. Before sowing, find out which varieties are most resistant to downy mildew. Soil drainage and following the crop rotation schedule are other preventive measures.
