How to Save Money and Grow Healthy Organic Spinach
Filed under Organic Vegetable Gardening
Whether it’s a tainted-food scare or the high cost of organic produce in the supermarket, many people have decided to take matters into their own hands and grow their own organic spinach. Not only is home-grown spinach tastier and much higher in vitamins than conventionally produced market spinach, but fresh spinach from your own garden can be sown so you have a nearly year-long supply waiting to be picked whenever you want some.
Spinach is a cool season crop that tends to “bolt” or form seed instead of leaves when it gets too hot. There are varieties that are especially resistant to bolting and others that are bred to bear quite early. Most organic gardeners make a point to make several plantings of several different varieties so there is plenty of fresh spinach maturing throughout the season.
Since it’s a green, leafy crop, it is not surprising that it is also a rather heavy feeder. While all the other elements are required, especially calcium, it’s very important to deliver plenty of nitrogen in a useful form. This is an especially important point when growing organic spinach, since the early season crop usually requires more available N than is typically liberated from cold soils.
As such, the soil preparation for successfully planting spinach is a bit more complicated, requiring about twice the amount of compost or manure that you might otherwise apply. Native to the Middle East, spinach must be planted directly due to its long tap root. It doesn’t require a lot of water, but does like to stay evenly moist, especially when young.
It is always a good idea to get a soil test done when growing whole leaf spinach organically. Most agricultural universities offer this service to citizens at minimal cost. Spinach can tolerate a fairly wide range of pH, and is one of the few crops that can handle a mildly alkaline soil. If your soil is acidic, as many are outside dessert areas, adding agricultural lime (calcium carbonate) brings the pH up and adds important calcium.
Generally, spinach is planted in most parts of North America just as soon as the soil is workable, though germination cannot happen until the soil temperature reaches about 45F (7C). Active growth requires a bit more heat, though all varieties will grow to full size in a surprisingly short period of time as soon as temperatures over 60F (16C) are realized.
Surprisingly hearty like many of the brassicas (aka “cole crops”), spinach can tolerate light frosts. In fact, it may be planted in the autumn in all but the coldest parts of North America. During the longest days of summer, anywhere there are more than 14 hours of daylight, spinach will bolt regardless of the heat or variety.
Though most varieties are hybrids and do not breed true to type, you may collect seed from the open-pollinated varieties. If you choose to renew a spinach plant that has bolted, you may chop it down to the ground and let the leaves come back from the bottom.
While spinach tends to be generally free of pests, partly due to its very fast growth cycle, though it is prone to attack from aphids and leaf-miners. Aphids leave tiny dots in the leaves and can spread the few diseases that plague spinach and other crops in the same plant group.
As a general rule, disease in spinach is best controlled by providing proper soil nutrition when planting. Floating row covers of Remay can provide a protection layer that keeps disease-spreading organisms at bay. If that doesn’t work, applications of the organic pesticide made from the neem tree are very effective against soft-bodied insects such as aphids. Leaf miners can be discouraged by keeping the surrounding soil free of weeds that serve as a refuge for the insects.
That said, spinach tends to be a rather trouble-free crop for most people. You should plan on between 15 and 20 plants per person, depending upon whether you plan on putting any up. Spinach stores well when canned or when put in the freezer. Harvest leaves for salads when small, or wait until they’re larger for cooking.
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