Growing Vegetables in a Dry Spot Using Old Milk Cartons
Organic Gardening Tips and Books for the Novices and even Experts
Advice Especially for the Sub-Tropical Organic Gardener
Australian Native Spinach
Colourful Carrots From Around the World
Seed Suppliers Page (Australia)
Seed Savers' Network Byron Bay
Tomatoes (Including diseases and fruitfly in tomatoes)
Green Paddocks Publishing and Producing Australia
The Chai Wallah Picture Publishing Project
Farming with Bev and Peter Brock in Nutfield
Zen Cleaning Robot Book of Quotes
Origin of SpinachFrom the mysterious outback of Iran comes a very interesting, yet often neglected, vegetable called spinach. (Well it's also native to Manchuria and South-West Asia, but Iran sounds more exotic). Anyway, unlike Iranians, spinach comes in five different sexes, which you'll only discover when they flower. These are: ordinary males; extreme males which are usually short; females that produce the seed; hermaphrodites with both male and female flowers (illegal in Iran); and extreme, vegetative males which produce no flowers (possibly due to laziness). You may not actually want to know that information, but it is something new, and you should always learn something new every day. If you want more information on saving seed for spinach, better go visit the Seed Savers' website listed at the side of the page. If you just want to grow spinach, then read on. |
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Cultivating SpinachOne thing to always remember when cultivating spinach is that it hates heat. What does it do when it gets hot? It starts going to seed and stops growing lovely leaves for you to eat. So, if you have a hot summer you might want to consider growing Australian Spinach (also called New Zealand Spinach), which grows prostrate along the ground and is very drought resistant or Ceylon Spinach (also called Malabar Spinach), which is actually a type of vine, with red stems and large succulent leaves, native to southern India that you can train over trellises and pick to you hearts content. The roots of the plant are also used as a treatment for diarrhoea in China. Neither of these spinach are "true" spinach. "True" spinach seed should be sown directly into the ground (around 15-25 cm apart) where it is to be grown in: very late autumn/ early winter in sub-tropical climates like Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, Australia; late autumn/ early spring in temperate/ warm climates like Sydney, Australia; and early spring and through the summer in cool miserable climates like London, England, Sligo, Ireland and in Iceland. You can grow baby spinach in hot summers by planting closer together under some sort of shade cloth and harvesting very young. You can do the same with lettuce in these climates. 
Bloomsdale SpinachAs you may have noticed when washing spinach bought from a market, spinach is often grown in coarse, loose soils and it doesn't tend to like really hard surfaces. It does however like very rich soil with a high nitrogen content (add lots of well broken down compost + animal maures). For the home gardener I can suggest growing the stuff in large pots filled with good organic potting mixture, and perhaps a little blood and bone and some liquid seaweed fertiliser. Plant every few weeks during the right season so you can have a regular supply over a long period of time. You can also steam and freeze the excess for use later on. Never allow plants to dry out, it is the second most cause of failure behind heat. |
Some types of spinach available are Long Standing Bloomsdale, Victoria, Japanese Soshu (very fast growing), Broad Flanders, Savoy Leaf, Elephant Ear and English Spinach.
So sow your own spinach and reap the benefits of firm and vibrant leaves which will make you glad you did so. If you want to buy Australian Spinach or Ceylon Spinach, I recommend Eden Seeds (if you are in Australia), otherwise true spinach seed is available quite widely.
Ceylon Spinach (from Eden Seeds)
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© J R Atwood 2007
