Spinach Prickly-Seeded

'Prickly-seeded' spinach is a fast-growing, hardy variety with dark green, fairly large triangular leaves. It is suitable for spring and late autumn crops. Sow from February to April then from July to September for late spring and early autumn harvests.

Spinach is a tasty leaf vegetable that is native to Iran. It belongs to the Chenopodioideae family, along with beetroot and chard. It is widely grown throughout the world for its unique flavour and excellent nutritional values. Its high iron content became famous with the cartoon character Popeye, although it is actually its high folic acid content (vitamin B9) that is the most remarkable. Spinach leaves can be used in a thousand ways: raw in a spring salads, in stir-fries or in a savoury pie with small chunks of goat's cheese… Even kids won’t be able to resist it!

Spinach can be grown all year round, however each variety has its own growing period that must be respected in order to avoid premature bolting. Depending on which time of year you wish to harvest your spinach, you can either choose between spring and/or autumn varieties, winter varieties or even summer varieties. Some varieties have pungent seeds, these are best suited to spring or late autumn sowing.

Spinach gives best results in consistent, moist and fertile soils with plenty of nitrogen and potash. It enjoys the sun in the winter and mid-shade to full shade during the hotter summer months/in warmer climates.

Harvesting: Harvest the leaves as and when required. Make sure to pick the outer leaves without damaging the heart, as this will continue to grow and to put out new leaves. When the plants shows signs of bolting, harvest the whole plant by cutting it off at ground level.

Storage: Spinach tends to wilt very quickly once picked, even in the refrigerator. The leaves are best eaten fresh, as soon as possible after harvesting. They can however be blanched (3 minutes in boiling salty water) then frozen for later use.

Good to know: Did you know that spinach can be used as a green manure? Recycle your old spinach seeds by sowing them during the autumn (about 30 g/m2). The plants will absorb and store nitrogen from the soil, thus preventing it from leaching away over winter.