A guide on how to grow Spinach from seed to harvest

This vegetable plant originated from Asia. The botanical name of Spinach is Spinacia oleracea. This plant is related to beets and Swiss chard. This vegetable plant is a cool-season annual plant that is grown for its leaves. This plant forms a rosette of dark green leaves that can be flat or crinkled (savoy leaf spinach).
Furthermore, spinach is actually a cool-season annual plant. You can plant the spinach before the weather warms in spring and again as the weather cools in early autumn.
One thing about Spinach plant is that they don’t grow well during the long hot summer days or in wet weather.

Tips on how to grow Spinach

The following are step by step guide on how to grow Spinach;

1. Make sure you loosen the soil by digging down deep.
2. You need to apply fertilizer, manure or compost. For example if you are using fertilizer, make sure you use one handful for every square meter of soil. You can still use four hands of kraal manure or compost for every square meter of soil.
3. Make sure you use a garden fork to mix the soil and fertilizer, manure or compost thoroughly, after that you can level it using a rake.
4.  Then you need to put the seed or seedlings into the ground, make sure you work according to the instructions on the seed packet or the nursery recommendations.
5. Make sure you water the Spinach plants regularly. You can use flood irrigation, a sprinkler, a watering can, a hosepipe or drip irrigation.
6. If you actually want to get a better crop, you can apply a top dressing about 5 weeks later as the Spinach needs a lot of nitrogen for good quality, broad leaves. In the area of top dressing, you can use either chicken manure or LAN. Make sure you applied it between the rows and work it in lightly. Don’t forget to remove weeds regularly.
7. Make sure you harvest the spinach regularly. You can remove only the outer (older) leaves with a sharp knife about 30mm to 50mm above ground level. Make sure you don’t damage the new leaves. By peradventure if you are not going to use the leaves immediately, you can bunch them and put them in water to keep them fresh for longer period.
8. Make sure you don’t plant the spinach on the same plot over and over, this can actually cause spinach pests and diseases to build up in the soil. Make sure you rotate the crop with other vegetables like peas, pumpkins, tomatoes, beans, lettuce, cabbage and potatoes.

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