how does spinach grow

is it like basil which grows back after you pick the leaves or is it a one shot deal??

thanks

Yep, you can keep picking the leaves and it will keep growing back. Leave some leaves on the plant though. I read that if you always pick the biggest, outer leaves, it will slow down bolting.

It is sort of like picking loose leaf lettuce. You can pick the larger outside leaves and the plant will continue to grow. But don't try to pinch out the center to get branching, that won't work. It will grow for awhile until it gets hot and then will bolt to seed.

thanks to you both. someone at work told me that once yhou pick the leaves thats it, they don't grown back.

I have two plants that made it through a winter puncuated by three freezes.

The other plants were tilled under, or fatalities.

These two plants provide me with enough spinach for my wife and I for one salad per week. Hence, if you pick as rebecca and roseone stated, it will serve you well.

As an aside, I have three rows this year. And a good pickin will give us spinach lasagna once or twice a month, in addition to many many salads. And lacking the e.coli fear that gripped the nation :) :) :)

WJ
Frisco, Texas

wj - i wanted to try them just for the heck of it. i realize with the little amount that i am planting i will be lucky to get one good salad out of me but i had to try it anyway.

Hernie -

Keep them watered and in sun ....

... you may be surprised :)

have them in the basderment with grow lights until the weather calms down a bit

You mean like - NEVER???

Sequee, I thought I would make you feel better by sending a current photo of Teton, direct seeded.

Oh - I have seeds for thoe planted - God willing I WILL see something like that -eventually!

Hmmm - are you SURE you're not rubbing it in???

sequee - i am sure he is rubbing it in to both of us. seriously, do you think i still have time to plant seeds outdoors and still get spinach?? what would be the latest date that i can wait to sow them direct outdoors??

thanks

New York State has pretty cool summers, of course Ithaca is the only place I have lived in the summer. At least in that area I would expect spinach to grow all summer. Here it is finished in June and can be planted again in September.

I live in Texas - Dry heat (July / Aug = 100s).

Last year I pust in Baby Leaf in late Aug and had spinach all fall and winter until the first freeze (yes it freezes here too).

My goal this summer - as I late winter sowed - is to get as much spinach as possible until the heat makes them slow to a withering crawl. I expect them to pick up momentum in mid to late September

As I said above, two of the plants made it through the winter and are producing quite well currently.

W J

I'm putting mine in this weekend - fer shur!

o.k. i will put some seeds in this weekend also. here is a picture of the spinach i started and have yet to get planted outside. like i said, i only started a few just to see what they would do but they look so good that i will put a bunch of seeds down this weekend.

Oh, yum! Looking good.

is the rain done yet??? I'm getting real tired of this. And here I sit, without heat and hot water. Seems sorta deja vu - though last year it was in January and I had to worry about frozen pipes. Now it's just darned inconvenient (and another expense I really, really don't need!)

I have tried direct seeding spinach and I have had little success. It planted 4 rows last year and didn't see any..the year before I planted an entire box and got 3 plants.. the year before one.. Should I give up? My beds are raised and in full sun.. I don't have any trouble growing a variety of lettuce and arugula and cilantro adn herbs.. not to mention beans peas squash etal.. Please help if you can

Spinach usually does well direct seeded. Plant just like beets (they are relatives). Lot easier to get a stand than with carrots. Could be you are planting to deep (about a 1/4 inch) or the ground is drying out too fast, the soil needs to be moist but not wet.

Probably the moistness issue.. I don't have good propagation with beets either but last year I planted them next to my kidlets garden and she is a watering freak! lol hey I got beets