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Re: spinach

Hi Natalie,

> Hello All!

> What is a healthy spinach crop supposed to look like?

> This is my first year trying spinach.  It's looking a bit leggy and has
> what looks like yellow flower buds growing.  Is this ok?  Am I doing
> something wrong?  Shld I have done something I didn't do?  Did I do
> something that I shld not have done?
> Please help!  Thanks!

> Natalie in Pa.
> LoonSong@Juno.com

It's bolting - starting to make it's flower stalk and flowers - so it's time
to pick it.  It's not your fault, spinach will bolt like this when the
temperatures warm up, irregardless of it's size.  Spinach is pretty much an
early spring and fall crop, even in the north (and south for those down under).
Mine and probably a lot of other gardeners' spinach is bolting now too. 

You can pick whole plants now, or if you want just the larger leaves, leaving
the smaller ones to develop a little more.  (You can harvest leaves all
through spinach's growing season, once the plants are sizable enough.)  They
won't put on much more though, once spinach bolts it's fully concerned with
growing seed and doesn't bother making much more leaf.

If there was a plant in your garden that seemed to bolt slower and was large and
healthy looking you can leave a few leaves on it and let it make seed.  You can
either harvest the seed for later sowing or let it drop where it is, giving you
a few volunteers for next year ... presuming you're growing an open pollinated
strain, hybrids will give unexpected results.

If you don't think your spinach got big enough - they can make leaves large
enough to completely cover your hand and outstretched fingers and then some -
then you can start it earlier in the season next year, allowing it an extended
growing period in the cool of spring.

You can sow more this fall for that matter - sow about 10-12 weeks before your
expected first frost and it will be nice and sizable by the time the cool
weather comes.  Fall grown spinach is great!  Spinach grows well at low
temperatures, as low as 1°C.  In fact you can start some plants 6-10 weeks
before snow is expected and they will overwinter with good snow cover.  Come
spring they will start growing again as soon as the snow is off them, giving you
large plants early on. Sometimes I sow seed late in the fall and cover it with a
bit of mulch, when spring's snows recede and I pull back the mulch the spinach
is sprouting already.

Cheers

   ____________________
  |                    |
  |     Bob Carter     | Kootenay Bay, BC, Canada
  |  bcarter@awinc.com | Zone 6b
  |____________________|


Polymer physicists are into chains.

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