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How to Grow Spinach: Planting, Growing & Harvesting Guide

spinach plant with leafy greens growing in the garden
Photo Credit
samotrebizan/Getty Images
Botanical Name
Spinacia oleracea
Plant Type
Vegetables
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Soil pH
Neutral
Cummins

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Spinach

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Ready to grow your own Popeye-approved greens? Spinach is one of the most rewarding cool-season crops you can grow—nutrient-packed, fast-growing, and surprisingly cold-hardy. In this complete guide, we’ll walk you through everything from planting to harvesting, plus share some tips to keep your leafy bounty coming all season long. Let’s get growing!

About Spinach

Spinach has similar cool-season growing conditions and requirements as lettuce, but it is more versatile in both its nutrition and its ability to be eaten raw or cooked. It is higher in iron, calcium, and vitamins than most cultivated greens and is one of the best sources of vitamins A, B, and C.

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Planting

Spinach tolerates full sun to light shade; prepare soil about a week before planting by mixing in compost. Alternatively, prepare the soil in late summer or early fall, when spinach can also be sown where winters are mild.

When to Plant Spinach

  • Spinach requires 6 weeks of cool weather from seeding to harvest; this is generally spring or fall, though many gardeners have better luck in the fall.
  • Although seeds can be started indoors, it is not recommended, as seedlings are difficult to transplant.
  • In the fall, sow seeds when the soil is 70°F or cooler. See our fall planting calendar.
  • Many gardeners can grow spinach throughout the winter if they protect the young plants with a cold frame or thick mulch, then remove the protection when the soil temperature in your area reaches 40ºF in spring. Remove the mulch to harvest some spinach, then replace the mulch.
  • If planting in the early spring, sow seeds as soon as the ground warms to 40°F. (Cover the soil with black plastic to speed its warming.)
  • To distract leaf miners, sow spinach seeds and radish seeds in alternate rows. Leaf miner damage to radish tops does not affect their root growth.
  • Common spinach cannot grow in midsummer as it’s not cool enough. (For a summer harvest, try New Zealand Spinach or Malabar Spinach, two similar leafy greens that are more heat-tolerant.)

How to Plant Spinach

  • Sow seeds 1/2 inch deep every 2 inches and cover with 1/2 inch of soil.
  • Plant in rows 12 to 18 inches apart, or sprinkle over a wide row or bed.
  • Sow every couple of weeks during early spring for a continuous harvest.

Growing

  • Water spinach to keep soil constantly moist.
  • Use row covers to maintain cool soil and deter pests.
  • When seedlings sprout to about 2 inches, thin them to 3-4 inches apart. You can eat the thinnings.
  • Beyond thinning, no cultivation is necessary. Roots are shallow and easily damaged.
  • Water regularly and mulch to retain moisture.
  • When plants reach one-third of their growth, side-dress with a high-nitrogen fertilizer as needed. Nutrient deficiencies may appear as yellow or pale leaves, stunted or distorted growth, a purpling or bronzing of leaves, leaves dropping early, or other symptoms.
  • In early spring and late fall: Spinach can tolerate the cold; it can survive a frost and temps down to 15ºF (-9°C). (See local frost dates) Young spinach is more tender; cover if cold temps are in the forecast.

Types

There are four main types of spinach suited for spring and fall plantings.

  • Baby-leaf style spinach is tender, with small leaves. The variety ‘Baby’s Leaf’ is good for containers; ‘Catalina’ is heat-tolerant and resistant to downy mildew.
  • Savoy spinach has curly, crinkled, dark-green leaves, e.g. ‘Bloomsdale’. The ‘Winter Bloomsdale’ variety is a crinkled-leaf, fall variety, tolerant to mosaic viruses.
  • Semi-Savoy has slightly crinkled leaves and can be difficult to seed. ‘Melody’ is resistant to cucumber mosaic virus and downy mildew; mildew-resistant ‘Remington’ will grow in spring, summer, or fall; ‘Tyee’ can be planted in spring or fall, and is resistant to downy mildew.
  • Smooth- or flat-leaf (also called plain leaf) varieties have spade-shaped leaves. ‘Giant Nobel’ is a plain leaf variety and an heirloom that is slow to bolt; ‘Nordic IV’ is bolt-resistant.
  • Malabar Spinach (Basella alba), a vine, and New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides), a perennial, are two leafy greens that resemble common spinach; both are heat-tolerant. Grow them in the summer when common spinach can’t take the heat.

Harvesting

  • Harvest a few outer leaves from each plant (so that inner leaves can develop) when leaves reach the desired size, or harvest the entire plant, cutting the stem at the base.
  • Don’t wait too long to harvest or wait for larger leaves. Bitterness will set in quickly after maturity. Be aware of day length and heat: Increasing daylight (about 14 hours or longer) and warmer seasonal temperatures can cause spinach to bolt (develop a large stalk with narrower leaves and buds/flowers/seeds), which makes the leaf taste bitter.
  • If spinach starts to bolt, pull the plant and use the leaves. Or try to slow the bolting: Pinch off the flower/seed heads, keep the soil moist, and provide shade.
Spinach plants growing in dirt
Harvesting spinach. 
Photo by Deyan Georgiev/Shutterstock.

How to Store Spinach

Fresh spinach leaves are good for up to a week. Too much moisture hastens their demise, so store fresh spinach unwashed and don’t wash until ready to use. Pat dry with a paper towel and put in a freezer bag with the towel to absorb moisture.

Given its short shelf life, spinach is perfect for freezing. Wash, trim off ends and yellowing leaves, blanch, and pack into freezer bags. See how to freeze spinach.

Gardening Products

Pests/Diseases

Spinach Pests and Diseases
Pest/DiseaseTypeSymptomsControl/Prevention
AphidsInsectMisshapen/yellow leaves; sticky “honeydew” (excrement); sooty, black moldGrow companion plants; knock off with water spray; apply insecticidal soap; put banana or orange peels around plants; wipe leaves with a 1 to 2 percent solution of dish soap (no additives) and water every 2 to 3 days for 2 weeks; add native plants to invite beneficial insects
Downy mildewFungusYellow, angular spots on upper leaf surfaces that turn brown; white/purple/gray cottony growth on leaf undersides only; distorted leaves; defoliationRemove plant debris; choose resistant varieties; ensure good air circulation; avoid overhead watering
Leaf minersInsectMeandering blisters in leaves caused by tunneling larvaeRemove infested leaves, weed diligently; use row covers; till soil early in season; rotate crops
Leaf spot (Cercospora)FungusMany small brown spots with red-purple halos on leaves that enlarge and turn gray; centers of spots eventually fall out, leaving the halosDestroy infected plants; weed; avoid overhead watering; ensure good air circulation; rotate crops
Spinach blight (mosaic virus)VirusVaries with plant, but may include stunting, mottled green/yellow/white pattern or ringed spots on leaves; distorted leaf growthDestroy infected plants; choose resistant varieties and certified virus-free seed; use row covers; disinfect tools; weed; control aphids; use mulch
White rustFungusChalk-white blisters mainly on leaf undersides; small, yellow-green spots or blisters, sometimes in circular arrangement, on upper leaf surfaces; possible distortion or galls; stems may also be infectedDestroy infected plants; choose resistant varieties; weed; destroy crop residue; rotate crops

Wit and Wisdom

  • Phenology, the study of signs, suggests planting spinach when crocuses are blooming.
  • Similarly, in areas where lilacs grow, old-time farmers say to plant spinach when lilacs are in first leaf.
  • Scatter spinach or lettuce seeds around emerging bulb foliage to make wise use of your garden space, and have a leafy green crop at the ready to cover the bare spots left by deadheaded spring flowers.

Recipes
Pasta Salad With Spinach and Artichokes
Spinach-Stuffed Tomatoes
Chicken Spinach Salad with Oranges, Dates, and Goat Cheese
Spinach Lasagna
Spinach and Cheese–Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Cooking Notes

  • A pinch of baking soda in the cooking water keeps the spinach greener.
  • Refresh wilted spinach by placing it in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes before using it.
  • Spinach boosts your brainpower, but it can hinder iron absorption. For better absorption of iron, eat spinach with orange slices.
  • Raw, young spinach is best in salads and smoothies; more mature spinach is excellent sautéed in heated olive oil.
  • Embrace your leafy greens! Learn more about the health benefits of going green!

Vegetables
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 03/11/2014 - 10:44

Spinach is shade-tolerant as it bolts easily in full Sun. It grows best with 3 to 4 hours of Sun.

Try baby spinach and harvest the outmost leaves of each plant and it should last longer.

 <span>Chris Noble</span> Mon, 09/16/2013 - 03:41
Does spinach make a suitable alternative to horseraddish? Also can it survive summer heats of 35c & winter temps of -20c? Horseraddish grows vigorously in our garden in Bulgaria.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 06/11/2014 - 10:51

Hi, Chris, Thanks for consulting us from Bulgaria!

Horseradish and spinach are entirely different in the ground, in cooking, in your mouth. Horseradish is a perennial—it will come back every year, proof that it can survive just about any temp. It has a very strong flavor. Here are a bunch of recipes using it: http://www.almanac.com/search/apachesolr_search/horseradish?filters=type:recipe

Spinach is an annual: It will die with the first frost. So no, spinach will not survive the temps you cite. It can be used in salads and numerous other dishes. Put the word "Spinach" into the search box on this Web site and you will get lots of advice and ideas and recipes about it.

Hope this helps! Thanks again for reaching out from so far!

 <span>Jimbolee11</span> Fri, 07/12/2013 - 02:32
So my cilantro is flowering. My green beans are getting white flowers. My spinach is growing these weird Christmas tree looking seed pods. I planted all of these guys from seeds at the start of the season. I don't have the first clue on how to cure & maintain all my herbs & vegetables so that I can maintain a healthy plant that will not only continue to thrive but yield great harvests too??
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 07/15/2013 - 21:13
Once spinach develops pods, it's done producing but you can let the pods develop and once the plant turns yellow, collect the seeds to replant next season. Your cilantro is also done. Those white blossoms on the green beans are good; the blooms develop into the bean pods.
<span>Jimbolee11</span> Thu, 07/18/2013 - 18:31
Ok thank you for your response on the 3 different vegetable questions I had, I do appreciate it, yet I'm still confused as to why my spinach & my cilantro started seeding before I was able to harvest anything. I mean, I went from planting the seeds in April, to having a plant with a minimal amount of small leaves in May-June, too having seed pods come July?????? I never got to harvest anything ????? What did I do wrong? Am I missing something????? Is their something I am supposed to do to "ALL" my vegetable plants as they are growing to keep them from seeding so that they can continue to produce edible harvests throughout the growing season???????? It doesn't make any sense to me how I can plant a vegetable seed watch it grow a little then all of a sudden it goes to seed. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong or what I need to do from now on please thank you....
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 07/19/2013 - 08:24

You are not alone with cilantro and it's just a learning process. Cilantro is really a cool-weather plant (spring and fall) and can't grow in summer heat so planting times depend on where you live and your climate. When the weather gets warm, the plant bolts and sends up a long, lanky flower stalks that will later seed. Even in cool conditions, cilantro yields a fast crop; plants are barely up before they try to flower and set seeds. Two weeks tops. So those tasty leaves aren't around long, especially in warm weather. We're not sure where you live but if you lived in the Southwest, for example, it may be best to plant in the fall and it may keep growing until spring when the weather heats up again. We would suggest you contact your county's cooperative extension for free, local, in-person advice. Here's a link to get you started: http://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services

 <span>Lorelei Lee</span> Mon, 06/17/2013 - 16:15
I planted spinach for the first time this year. We were having a very cold spring, and I was getting tired of waiting to plant my normal crops, so near the end of April I bought some spinach, and romaine lettuce seeds on impulse. One end of my planting beds gets a fair bit of shade, thanks to my neighbor's tree, so my thinking was that even if it started getting too hot, the shade might prevent it from bolting too soon. I just harvested some fairly big leaves which I've incorporated into tonight's dinner. I expect they will all have been harvested by the time the butternut squash decides to take over the garden.
<span>Anonymous</span> Thu, 09/06/2012 - 23:19
Hi, How can I keep it from bolting before I get anything to eat? The sun (aka death rays) is very misleading at this altitude. Topping didn't seem to work - still 2 feet tall with 6 leaves. They were tasty leaves though :)
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 09/07/2012 - 12:15
Spinach is a cold season crop and grows best in spring early-summer and in the fall when temps are cooler. New Zealand Spinach and Malabar Spinach do tolerate some hot weather. Plant the spinach in semi-shade or protect the plants from the hot sun with an umbrella or screen. Depending on where you live you can start some seeds now and hopefully you'll get some nice leaves before the ground freezes.