Family name: Beetroot family (Chenopodiaceae)
Vegetables that belong to this family are beetroot, Swiss chard and spinach. All these can be grown in the same way. Spinach is a good nutrious food, but mustn’t be eaten in large quantities (so much for Popeye the sailor man), since large amounts of it will cause oxalic acid poisoning.
Varieties of spinach
There are three types of spinach: ordinary spinach, perpetual spinach and New Zealand spinach. Perpetual spinach comes back every year, which makes it easier to grow then normal spinach. Alas, it’s not as tasty as the ordinary variety. New Zealand spinach is more suited in hotter climates, as it doesn’t go to seed as fast as ordinary Spinach, yet can be grown in cooler climates as well. New Zealand spinach also doesn’t have the oxalic acid content the ordinary spinach has.
Soil, sowing and planting
The spinach prefers a neutral soil (pH 6,5). It also prefers additions of compost. Mulching is of benefit to prevent soil evaporation in order to help plants not to go to seed too early. Plants tend to go to seed in droughts, keeping the moist in the soil will help to prevent this.
Spinach can be sown into modules and planted out when they are 5 cm tall, spacing them at 20 cm apart from each other in their permanent beds. Spinach can be sown all year around. When they grow indoors during the winter time, don’t forget to first harden them off before placing them outside for when they first go out in spring, as temperatures at this time can still be rather low.
Harvest
Spinach can be harvested all year around by picking the leaves singly from the stem of different lettuce plants, starting at the base of the stem.
Pests and diseases
Spinach is as good as disease free. The only problem that could arise mould in warm, damp weather. If this happens, which it does only rarely, it is best to discard the crop and plant new ones.
According to Cornell University Perpetual Spinach is also known as New
Zealand Spinach. Is this true?
It is, they are the same plant 🙂