How to sow spinach outdoors. Spinach: growing from seeds at home and in the open field

Garden spinach (lat. Spinacia oleracea) is an annual herbaceous plant, a species of the genus Spinach of the Amaranth family, although not so long ago it was attributed to the Marev family. Spinach grows wild in Asia Minor, and it began to be cultivated in Persia. Spinach was so popular in the Arab countries that Muhammad ibn al-Awwam's cousin called it "the general among the greens." In the middle of the 7th century according to the Great silk road Spinach made its way to China, where it was called the "Persian vegetable". In Christian Europe - first in Sicily and Spain - spinach became known around the 13th century, but then a form of the plant was cultivated that is now forgotten. In Italy of the 15th century, green spinach was eaten during Lent, and in France, the Italian Catherine de Medici introduced the fashion to serve spinach at the table. Since the middle of the 16th century, spinach of the modern type has already been grown in Europe: broad-leaved, without bitterness and with round seeds.

In the first third of the 20th century in the United States and Western countries spinach boomed in popularity because it was erroneously assumed to contain an incredible amount of iron. Remember cartoons about the sailor Popeye? However, later it turned out that there is 10 times less iron in spinach: the researcher simply forgot to put a comma in the number ... The excitement around spinach gradually subsided, but nevertheless, its producers erected a monument to the sailor Popeye in Texas in gratitude for popularizing the vegetable.

In Russia, spinach began to be eaten in the middle of the 18th century, but until the end of the next century it remained a little-known "master's" vegetable, which was served at the table with croutons and an egg, and even then spinach in Russia failed to gain wide popularity.

Currently, this crop is most in demand in China and the United States, and in America, three-quarters of the spinach crop is sold fresh. Spinach consumption in the United States has almost returned to the levels of the middle of the 20th century. Today, young spinach, the so-called baby spinach, with tender leaves up to 5 cm long, is gaining ground on the market.

Planting and caring for spinach (in a nutshell)

• Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings in late March or early April, planting seedlings in open ground - in the second half of May. Sowing seeds of early varieties directly into the ground - at the end of April, after which seeds can be sown by the conveyor method every two weeks: from sowing to harvesting - 5 weeks. Late varieties can be sown until mid-August to get a harvest in 6-7 weeks. Before winter, spinach seeds can be sown 6-8 weeks before the first frost - in mid-October.
• Lighting: bright sunlight, penumbra and even shade.
• The soil: drained slightly acidic loam with pH 6.5-7.0.
• Watering: for every m² with a garden watering can with a sprinkler or a hose with a sprinkler nozzle, a bucket of water is poured. In heat and drought, spinach is watered three times a week.
• Top dressing: if spinach growth is slow, apply nitrogen fertilizers to the soil, but if the soil was fertilized before sowing, top dressing is unlikely to be needed.
• Reproduction: seed - seedling and seedless.
• Pests: mining and sugar beet flies, gamma scoop caterpillars, aphids, common bears and babanukhs.
• Diseases: fusarium, peronosporosis, anthracnose, curliness, viral mosaic, ascochitosis, cercosporosis and ramulariasis.
• Properties: spinach is a valuable dietary product with a laxative, diuretic, anti-inflammatory and tonic effect.

Read more about growing spinach below.

Spinach plant - description

What does spinach look like? The height of the plant is from 25 to 50 cm or more. Its stems are bare, simple and branched. The lower basal leaves of spinach are petiolate, triangular-lanceolate, often with elongated lateral ears, or oval, oblong-ovate, entire, contracted into a petiole. The upper, and often the middle leaves are oblong, pointed, with a wedge-shaped base. Anther flowers with four stamens form a spike-paniculate inflorescence, and pistillate flowers are in dense glomeruli located in the axils of the leaves. The fruits of spinach are spherical or two-horned, sometimes soldered together, but, nevertheless, do not form seed.

Rosettes of spinach leaves, which form at the very beginning of the growing season, are eaten.

Sowing spinach seedlings

When to plant spinach

Growing spinach, like any other greens, can be done in a greenhouse, at home or in open field. You can get the earliest greens if you pre-grow spinach seedlings. To do this, in late March or early April, spinach seeds are sown in boxes, paper or plastic cups filled with a moist, loose, disinfected substrate consisting of biohumus (1 part) and coconut fiber (2 parts). A layer of expanded clay 2-3 cm thick is placed under the substrate.

Hard-shell spinach seeds with a dense shell are poured with water for two days before sowing, changing it every 6-8 hours. Then they are placed for disinfection for several hours in a pink solution of potassium permanganate, after which they are dried to flowability.

Spinach is sown to a depth of 1-1.5 cm, then the surface is slightly compacted, the crops are covered with film or glass and kept in a warm place until germination. As soon as the seeds begin to germinate, the film is removed, and the container is moved to the southeast or south window sill - the seedlings that have appeared will need a lot of light. But spinach seedlings are undemanding to warmth: it can be grown even on an unheated loggia. Another condition for the successful development of seedlings, in addition to good lighting, is to keep the substrate slightly moist.

Planting spinach in open ground is done when the soil warms up. After transplanting, install metal arcs above the bed at a height of about 20 cm and cover the seedlings with agrofibre in case of night frosts and intense spring sun.

Growing spinach on a windowsill

How to grow spinach at home

If you want to grow spinach on a windowsill, keep in mind that the life of the bush is no more than two months: after a few cuts, the spinach releases a flower arrow, and its leaves lose the quality they need to eat. How to grow spinach at home? When growing a crop in the spring-summer period, seedlings do not require additional lighting, but if spinach from seeds is grown in autumn or winter, it can only give a good harvest if you organize daily additional lighting for it within 2-3 hours after sunset.

Sowing of prepared spinach seeds is carried out to a depth of 1-1.5 cm in the same substrate in which spinach seedlings are grown. A layer of drainage 2-3 cm high is placed under the substrate in the dishes. You can sow spinach in boxes or containers at least 15 cm deep or in 1-2-liter pots, or you can grow seedlings in small cups, and in the development stage of seedlings 2- 4 real leaves, pick them into a permanent dish. Crops are covered with a film until germination.

Growing spinach and caring for it at home is very simple. The optimal temperature for the development of spinach seedlings is from 15 to 18 ºC, watering should be regular and sufficient, especially in summer, since drying out of the substrate provokes premature bolting. In addition, you will need to spray your spinach daily in the early morning or after sunset. As for dressings, when sowing spinach in fertile soil they are not needed. Spinach greens for cutting will ripen, depending on the variety, 3-5 weeks after sowing, but after 1-2 months the bush will go into the arrow and new greens will stop growing.

Growing spinach outdoors

When to plant spinach in the ground

Since spinach is a frost-resistant plant, it can be grown outdoors, bypassing the stage of growing seedlings. For a spring harvest, spinach is sown 4-6 weeks after the last spring frosts, and for an autumn harvest, 6-8 weeks before the first autumn cold. In the spring, as soon as the heat is established and the sun begins to shine for 14 hours a day, spinach will appear small flowers- this process is called flowering or shooting, and it makes the leaves of the plant unfit for human consumption. Therefore, many gardeners prefer to sow spinach in the fall. In the spring, at the end of April, they sow early varieties spinach. You can sow the plant several times every 15-20 days. No more than 5 weeks pass from sowing to harvesting. Late varieties are sown until mid-August - they give a harvest in 6-7 weeks.

You can sow spinach before winter - in mid-October. Before the onset of winter, the plant manages to form small rosettes, and in the spring, spinach left to winter in the ground will sprout very early, and in a couple of weeks you can include it in your diet.

Planting spinach in the ground

Planting and caring for spinach in the open field does not take much time and does not require significant effort. The site for the plant should be sunny, and although the plant will also grow well in the shade, its productivity will be lower than when grown in the sun. Spinach prefers drained slightly acidic loamy soils with a pH of 6.5-7.0. You can adjust the acidity of the soil by adding limestone to it: dolomite limestone is added to soil that contains little magnesium, and calcite limestone is added to soil with a high magnesium content. Do this in the fall or at least 2-3 months before sowing.

Since the soil for spinach must be rich organic matter, alfalfa, soy or blood meal is introduced into it under deep digging. Or they dig up a site with mineral fertilizers from the following calculation: 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride per 1 m². Before spring sowing, urea is introduced into the soil - 20 g per 1 m².

Spinach is sown in rows to a depth of 2 cm with row spacing of 20-30 cm, placing the seeds at a distance of 5-8 cm from each other. After planting the seeds, the surface is lightly compacted with the back side of the rake, watered, covered with burlap for 3-4 days, and a plastic film is thrown onto the arched supports installed in advance at a height of about 20 cm. Seeds germinate at a temperature of 2 to 5 ºC in about 10-14 days.

When the seedlings form a rosette of 2-3 leaves, thin out the spinach - ideally, the bushes should grow at such a distance from each other that they barely touch the leaves. Spinach care consists of regular watering, weeding, loosening the soil around the plants and protecting the spinach from the sun with a shade net when the air temperature rises to 26 ºC.

watering spinach

Spinach is very hygrophilous. For watering it, it is better to use a hose with a sprinkler nozzle or a garden watering can with a splitter, but remember that with strong pressure you can wash away fragile shoots. Approximately one bucket of water is consumed per m² of beds. In dry, hot weather, watering is carried out at least three times a week, and in order to prevent water from spreading, make a furrow around the perimeter of the beds. After watering, when the water is absorbed and the surface of the soil is slightly dry, loosen the soil around the plants and remove the weeds. If you notice flower arrows on spinach, break them off.

spinach nutrition

If spinach develops well in open ground, it means that those in the soil nutrients enough for him, but if the spinach grows slowly, feed it with a nitrogen fertilizer: cudweed meal or blood meal. Fertilizers are applied to a depth of several centimeters, after which the site is watered. In general, spinach needs top dressing only if the area was not fertilized before sowing or planting seedlings.

What to plant after spinach

To avoid soil depletion, spinach in one area can be grown with a break of 3-4 years. According to the laws of crop rotation, roots are usually grown after tops, that is, after spinach, you can plant Jerusalem artichoke, swede, radish, radish, daikon, katran, turnip and other tuberous or root plants.

spinach diseases

The most harmful diseases of spinach are fusarium, downy mildew, anthracnose, curl and viral mosaic. Spinach can also be affected by diseases such as ascochitosis, cercosporosis and ramulariasis.

fusarium wilt, or root rot- a dangerous fungal disease that affects seedlings and young plants. In specimens affected by Fusarium, the color becomes dull, they begin to lag behind in growth, their leaves lose turgor, turn yellow, and the plants die. The process begins with the lower leaves, and when the plant is dug up, its roots are found to be rotten. You will not succeed in curing spinach from fusarium, especially if the process has covered the entire plant, so the affected bushes must be removed from the garden. As a preventive measure, you need to grow disease-resistant varieties of spinach, make sure that the bushes do not grow too close to each other, regularly loosen the soil around them and remove weeds, and the seeds must be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate before sowing.

peronosporosis, or false powdery mildew - a fungal disease that manifests itself as yellowish spots on the upper side of spinach leaves, while a grayish coating forms on their underside. Then the spots acquire a brown-brown hue, the leaves droop, wrinkle, dry out and crumble. The disease progresses in cool damp weather. Ways to protect against peronosporosis, as well as from root rot, are mainly preventive, since when using chemical preparations, the toxic substances contained in them, accumulating in the leaves, will make them unsuitable for food. Folk remedies for the fight against fungal diseases can come to the rescue:

• treatment of plants with a solution of 10 drops of five percent pharmacy iodine in 1 liter of milk, which is then mixed with 9 liters of water;
• processing spinach with an ash solution: 2 cups of ash are brewed with three liters of boiling water, allowed to cool, filtered through a triple layer of gauze, diluted with 10 liters of water and spinach is treated with this solution;
• 200-300 g of onion peel is poured into 10 liters of water, brought to a boil, allowed to brew for 1-2 days, filtered and treated with infusion of the plant;
• 1-1.5 g of potassium permanganate is diluted in 10 liters of water and sprayed with a solution of spinach.

Anthracnose covers the leaves and their petioles with rounded dark spots, in the center of which there are black raised pads.

cercosporosis also affects the leaves and stems of spinach. First, rounded spots with a diameter of 2-4 mm are formed on them - red-brown with an ashy middle. Then the spots grow, merge with each other, the tissue inside the spots becomes thinner, dries and spills out, leaving holes in the leaf plates.

With ascochitosis spots also appear on leaves and stems: convex, of various shapes and colors, but most often brown with a dark border. Affected tissues gradually dry out.

ramulariasis, or leaf spot covers spinach leaves with gray-brown spots with dark edges. With the development of the disease, the leaves die.

mosaic viruses and cucumber mosaic can be stored in soil, on seeds and plant remains and transmitted by sucking insects. Viruses penetrate the plant through damaged tissues, their presence is manifested by the formation of yellow or light green strokes and star-shaped spots on spinach leaves, which gradually merge with each other. The leaves are deformed, stunted, become dwarfed.

leaf curl leads to a thickening and uneven growth of leaf tissue, as a result of which they are twisted, becoming wavy and covered with swellings. Curly hair is often accompanied by necrosis, spinach leaves dry up and fall off.

Curly and mosaics are viral diseases, and there is no way to cure them - the plants must be destroyed. And with fungal diseases, you can fight with preventive methods and folk remedies, which we have already described to you.

Spinach pests

There are also a lot of insects that harm spinach. Among them are mining and beet flies, gamma scoop caterpillars, aphids, common bears and babanukhs.

mining fly lays eggs in the leaves of the plant, and the larvae that appear in June eat their pulp, from which the spinach dies. You can scare away the pest by alternating rows of spinach with rows of beets, which the fly does not tolerate. However, do not sow spinach in an area where the beets have just been harvested, as it can get root rot.

Green or brown owl caterpillar- one of the most malicious pests of spinach, destroying its leaves. You can fight caterpillars by treating bushes with tobacco or pepper infusion, as well as infusion of tomato tops. And don't forget to weed the garden regularly.

beet fly also lays eggs on spinach leaves. Destroy it by treating the plant with a two percent solution of Phosphamide.

Aphid- a sucking insect that makes punctures in the young leaves of plants, sucking the juice out of them, and often infecting them with viral diseases. Processing spinach with an ash-soap solution will help you cope with aphids: 200-300 g of ash should be boiled in a bucket of water for 30 minutes, then cool, strain and add 40 g of grated soap or liquid agent for dish washing. Most likely, you will not be able to get rid of aphids at once, but if you spray the spinach with an ash-soap solution 4-5 times with an interval of several days, the aphids will disappear.

Medvedka- big and dangerous pest feeding not only on plants, but also small insects. She can move underground, on the ground and even through the air, which makes it very difficult to fight her. Nevertheless, it must be destroyed, since not only spinach, but also other garden and garden plants can suffer from this pest. The main thing is to find its nest and all the passages to it in the footsteps of the bear, and the tracks are best seen after rain. The discovered nest must be very carefully dug out so as not to frighten away the insect in it, put in a bucket and burned, and in each passage put a drug to kill the bear or pour soapy water in case there is no pest in the nest.

Babanukha- This is a cabbage or horseradish leaf beetle, which also eats spinach leaves with pleasure. These bugs are best picked by hand and destroyed, and after harvesting, it is advisable to dust the spinach with a mixture of wood ash with hot red pepper powder and dry mustard.

Types and varieties of spinach

According to the ripening period, garden spinach varieties are divided into early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening. The best early ripe varieties include the following:

• Gaudry- a variety ripening for food in 2-3 weeks. It can be sown as in early spring, and in late autumn, both in open and closed ground. The diameter of the rosette of leaves of the Gaudri variety is about 23 cm;
• Gigantic- one of the most famous varieties that give leaves two weeks after sowing. This variety is one of the best for canning. Rosette of elongated fleshy leaves sometimes reaches a diameter of 50 cm;
• Virofle- an early ripening French variety, prone to the early formation of a flower arrow. The rosette of oval, fleshy, tender and smooth, greenish-yellow leaves reaches a diameter of 30 cm. The plant is resistant to cold, so it can be sown in early spring;
• stick– cultivated in our country since 1995 high yielding variety used both for fresh consumption and for canning. The rosette of leaves up to 19 cm long and up to 14 cm wide is half raised and reaches a diameter of 30 cm.

Of the mid-season varieties most often grown:

• Matador- frost-resistant and moisture-loving, as well as not prone to early shooting, a productive variety of Czech selection, which gives leaves three weeks after sowing. The plant has a medium-sized compact semi-vertical rosette consisting of smooth, glossy oval grey-green leaves;
• Bloomsdelsky- a new variety of Dutch selection, resistant to shooting, with a high rosette with a diameter of about 25 cm. Leaves of a rich dark green color, smooth, juicy and fleshy, in slightly pronounced bubbles;
• burly– high yielding frost-resistant variety, not prone to early bolting, with a rosette about 25 cm in diameter of semi-raised glossy obovate green leaves with mild vesicles.

Late-ripening varieties of spinach include:

• Victoria- a moisture-loving and high-yielding variety that is resistant to peronosporosis and bolting, giving foliage 30-35 days after sowing. This plant has a compact rosette with a diameter of 14-19 cm with dark green strongly bubbling leaves up to 10 cm long and up to 7 cm wide;
• Spokane is a highly productive hybrid Dutch variety, resistant to flowering and recommended both for fresh consumption and for canning. It has rounded, wavy, wrinkled-bubbly dark green leaves 10-14 cm long and 6-11 cm wide, collected in a compact medium-sized rosette;
• Varangian- a variety with a raised compact rosette of large green oval medium-bubbly leaves of a slightly sour taste with medium-length petioles. The variety is suitable for salads and soups.

Also known in culture is the so-called New Zealand spinach, or tetragonia, an annual plant of the Aizaceae family. This plant is not related to spinach, although the nutritional value and taste characteristics of these plants are very similar, and in some respects tetragonia even surpasses spinach.

But multi-leafed spinach, or zhminda, or spinach-raspberry is a relative of garden spinach and is valuable not only for tasty and useful leaves, which are added to soups and salads, but also berries similar to mulberries, from which jelly, compote and jam are cooked.

Malabra or Ceylon spinach, or Basella from the Basella family, is a herbaceous plant, a liana whose fleshy leaves are tasty both raw and boiled. A refreshing drink is obtained from the infusion of the leaves. In nature, Basella grows in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and America, and in our climate it can be grown in the garden as an annual plant.

Spinach properties - harm and benefit

Medicinal properties of spinach

Spinach has many medicinal properties. What is spinach good for? What valuable substances are contained in its leaves? They include carbohydrates, proteins and fats, fiber, organic, unsaturated and saturated acids, sugars, starch, vitamins A, C, H, E, PP, K, B vitamins, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper, iodine, zinc, potassium, selenium and manganese.

It is important that vitamins C and A contained in spinach are preserved even after heat treatment. And the iron in spinach is in a form that is easily absorbed by humans and prevents the formation of cellulite. Due to the fiber contained in spinach, the intestines are cleansed, which helps to get rid of excess weight. Spinach normalizes peristalsis and eliminates constipation.

Spinach is recommended for diseases nervous system, anemia, exhaustion, diabetes mellitus, enterocolitis, gastritis, hypertension and anemia. Since the plant has a laxative, diuretic, anti-inflammatory and tonic effect and is perfectly absorbed by the body, it is useful for those recovering from a serious illness, pregnant women and children.

Spinach strengthens the heart muscle and relieves insomnia, and due to the lutein contained in the leaves, it clarifies vision, reduces fatigue and increases efficiency.

Fresh spinach juice helps cleanse the body, replenishes energy reserves, stimulates the functioning of organs - the liver, intestines, kidneys. With inflammation of the gums, they rinse their mouth, and with sore throats - the throat. Fresh chopped spinach leaves are applied externally for abscesses and stings of bees, wasps and other insects, and paste from boiled in olive oil spinach leaves treat eczema and burns, remove freckles and whiten the skin of the face.

Spinach is eaten fresh, boiled, or baked, and is an ingredient in many complex dishes, appetizers, and sauces.

Spinach - contraindications

Spinach in large quantities contains oxalic acid therefore, it is contraindicated for people who have problems with the urinary tract, suffering from urolithiasis, nephritis and similar diseases. Spinach is not useful for gout, diseases of the duodenum, liver, biliary tract and rheumatism.

Parsley, dill, lettuce - the usual and well-known greens in the garden, in the country. And you can diversify your diet with spinach. For a good harvest, you need to know how to properly grow spinach from seeds.

For a good and rich harvest, you need to know how to properly grow spinach from seeds.

Spinach belongs to annual plants haze family, to a number of precocious. It is a basal rosette of large leaves up to 20 cm high. male plants, as a rule, have few leaves and are of little use for food, therefore, when thinning, it is better to remove them. The plant is cold-resistant, withstands temperatures down to -8ºС. The optimum temperature for growing spinach is 15-20ºC. Spinach grows best with 12-15 hours of daylight. It is possible to get a crop from spinach seeds practically all year round, updating crops in 2-3 weeks.

Spinach is eaten fresh, added to salads. It is used to make puree, which can be served as a side dish for meat or fish. To do this, it must be crushed, boiled and rubbed through a large sieve. Fresh spinach leaves can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a day. It is not recommended to pre-wash them so that the leaves remain fresh.

Spinach is very rich in vitamins B, C, D2. The leaves contain many useful substances such as iron, calcium, secretin, salts, proteins, and do not contain acids. The content of carotene in it correlates with the amount of carotene in carrots. AT folk medicine spinach is advised to eat for those who have problems with digestion, cardiovascular system, with anemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, anemia. However, spinach is contraindicated in gout, people with diseased kidneys, liver. Spinach is great for baby food.

Varieties

Spinach is very rich in various vitamins that are beneficial to health.

1. Gigantic - early ripe, has a slightly raised medium-compact rosette, leaves are large, light green in color, elongated-oval, slightly bubbling.
2. Victoria - late-ripening, compact rosette adjacent to the ground, leaves are rounded, bubbly, dark green, slowly shoots.
3. Fat-leaved - late-ripening, the leaves are raised, medium, slightly bubbly, green.
4. Virofle - the rosette is raised, the leaves are large ovoid, slightly corrugated.
5. Matador - spinach hybrid, mid-season, gives high yield. After germination, the first crop can be harvested after 40-45 days. The leaves are gray-green in color, smooth, juicy. The yield reaches 8-9 kg per 1 m2. By planting this variety in mid-May, you can harvest from July to autumn. Tolerates frost well.

Less popular are such varieties as Space, Melody, Dolphin, New Zealand Heat-loving, Sporter.

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The soil

Spinach does not like acidic soils, loamy ones suit it best. If, nevertheless, your soil in the country belongs to the first category, sprinkle it with ash or lime. Make the beds low so that the earth does not dry out. It is advisable to grow spinach in a place that is well warmed by the sun. To prevent water from dripping during irrigation and retain moisture longer, make bumpers around the perimeter.

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Landing

In the spring, early varieties of spinach are planted, at the end of April and until the beginning of May. The best interval between crops is 15-20 days. It takes 4-5 weeks from sowing to harvest. Late varieties are planted until mid-August, they give a harvest within 6-7 weeks.

Spinach, like all greens, loves water, so it must be carefully and regularly watered.

Spinach seeds must first be soaked for 1-2 days, changing the water after 6-8 hours. Then they are dried a little so that they do not stick together. Seeds are sown in the ground in rows, keeping a distance of 20-30 cm between them, to a depth of 2 cm. There should be 5-8 cm between the seeds. They germinate at a temperature of + 2ºС ... -5ºС. Press the earth with the palm of your hand or tamp the rake with the back side. Water the bed and cover with burlap for 3-4 days. Cover with plastic wrap on top of a frame installed above the bed at a height of 20 cm. Seeds germinate in 10-14 days. When two or three leaves appear in the outlet, thin out the spinach.

In addition, spinach can overwinter. It is planted in autumn around mid-October. Seedlings have time to form small rosettes of leaves. Spinach planted in the fall germinates early in the spring and is ready to eat after 2 weeks.

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Care

Spinach loves water. Therefore, in order to grow juicy, fleshy leaves, watering should be based on the calculation of one bucket of water per 1 m2. In dry weather, water the crops at least three times a week, since the root system is no more than 25 cm. In addition, it is necessary to weed the weeds and loosen the ground in a timely manner. If the spinach starts to shoot, break off the tops.

Some types of fresh greens are available throughout the year, even in winter. Growing spinach greens from seeds is within the power of every gardener. Spinach is a valuable product, indispensable for dietary and children's menus. This plant is unpretentious, takes root on any soil, withstands cold snaps and yields even in cool conditions.

Characteristics of the plant, varieties of spinach for the windowsill

Spinach is an annual herbaceous crop that produces juicy and highly nutritious leaves. They contain minerals and vitamins in high concentration, and the calorie content is very small - 23 kcal per 100 g. In spring and summer, spinach feels good in the garden, and in room conditions can grow all year round.

For home growing early ripe ones are selected, often hybrid varieties spinach with resistance to greenhouse conditions.

good taste characteristics have varieties:

1. Fat-leaved - a variety of spinach with soft and embossed foliage. Rosettes of leaves reach 25-30 cm in volume. Greens are suitable for food already 25-40 days after the appearance of sprouts.
2. Gigantic - medium-sized leaves, have a mild taste. This variety is used for conservation, it is recommended for feeding children. Leaves are edible 30 days after sprouts appear.
3. Matador is a variety with smooth grayish leaves that ripen in 35-50 days. This type of spinach is adapted to adverse conditions, rarely exposed to pests.
4. Victoria - this species has rounded leaves collected in a small rosette. An early ripe variety, the harvest ripens in 25-40 days. Due to its compactness, it is one of the most popular varieties for growing on the windowsill.
5. Strawberry is interesting with a light berry aroma emanating from the bush. Both leaves and fruits are edible. One of the most early ripe varieties He needs 2-3 weeks.
6. Krepysh - mid-season variety, gives big harvest under regular watering conditions. Releases flower arrows late. Suitable for outdoor cultivation.

Advice! If spinach is grown for the first time, then gardeners recommend sowing several varieties at once for testing.

Greens differ not only in leaf size and ripening time, but also in taste. The crop is harvested within 2 months, during which time you can decide which variety to give preference to in the future.

Sowing preparation

Spinach seeds are medium sized, round, light brown. Before planting, they are soaked for a day in warm water, since the dense external structure will not allow them to germinate in a dry form. Then the seeds are moved for 2-4 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection, and dried with a paper towel before sowing. If the material has not been soaked, then it is necessary to water the soil abundantly after planting. Gardeners recommend not to ignore soaking, as the percentage of germinating seeds increases.

Capacities are selected in accordance with the further cultivation of seedlings. If it will be located on the windowsill, and the crop will be harvested at home, then long, wide and shallow pots are taken. If the sprouts dive into open ground, then smaller containers are taken. The material of the growing pots does not matter much, regular flowerpots will do. A prerequisite is drainage holes at the bottom to remove moisture.

Spinach is an unpretentious plant, it takes root in any soil. The only rule: there should be no peat in the soil. Increased acidity adversely affects the quality of the crop. Self-cooking soil for sowing seeds: 1 part of coconut fiber + 2 parts of biohumus. Coconut fiber is sometimes replaced with perlite. To exclude seedling diseases, the soil must be calcined in the oven or poured with a solution of fungicide or potassium permanganate.

Advice! To harvest throughout the year, sowing seeds is carried out every two weeks.

Landing

Steps for sowing spinach seeds:

1. A drainage layer of broken brick or expanded clay is laid in the prepared container.
2. The treated soil mixture is poured onto the drainage.
3. Spinach seeds are buried in the ground by 1-2 cm.
4. All plantings are covered with soil.
5. Immediately after sowing, the soil is slightly moistened. This will speed up the appearance of inputs.
6. The box is covered polyethylene film or transparent cover and moved to a bright place.

Advice! When planting seeds in a common pot, it should be borne in mind that each plant needs at least 8-10 cm of soil for normal development.

seedling care

The first sprouts should appear on the surface a week after sowing, if the box was stored at a temperature of + 15-17 ° C. When caring for seedlings, several conditions must be observed: abundant watering, maintaining air humidity and a sufficient amount of light.

Spinach loves good lighting, but does not tolerate drying out of the soil. It is allowed to place a flowerpot after planting on the south side, but away from heating appliances. To maintain moisture, seedlings are sprayed with settled water from a spray bottle. The frequency of moistening the leaves - once a day, in dry times - twice. If the room is too hot, the spinach will wither and form seed pods faster.

Spinach watering should be moderate. The soil should not dry out, but the root system does not need to be poured. Each new introduction of moisture is carried out with the drying of the top layer of soil. Water is taken settled, at room temperature. After each watering, the soil is slightly loosened so that air flows freely to the root system.

Young seedlings are afraid of the scorching sun, so at midday it is recommended to shade the place where the box is located, otherwise the tender leaves will get burned. AT winter time Daylight is extended with a UV lamp by at least 2 hours in the morning or evening. The optimal number of hours of daylight is 10-12. The lamp is installed at a height of 50-60 cm above the box.

Advice! In cloudy weather or in winter, the lamp can be left on all day up to 14 hours.

The optimal temperature for growing healthy and tasty leaves is from +14 to +18 degrees, so spinach will be comfortable both indoors and on a warmed balcony. The plant yields even at a temperature of + 7-10 degrees, but under such conditions, leaf growth slows down. At temperatures above +20 degrees it is possible early appearance peduncle.

From the first shoots, spinach is recommended to be fed for friendly growth. Liquid mineral fertilizers are applied. However, if the soil at the time of planting the seeds was sufficiently fertile, spring seedlings will not need to be fed. An excess of nutrients affects the taste of spinach leaves.

Growing greens lasts about 2 months. If you plan to re-cultivate the crop in a pot, then organic fertilizer should be applied to the soil.

Outdoor cultivation

Growing spinach outdoors is convenient when required a large number of harvest, and the window sill does not accommodate large boxes. When planting, it should be borne in mind that daylight hours longer than 14 hours contribute to the rapid formation of a peduncle, and such plants are no longer used for food.

More often spinach in the open field is grown directly from seeds, and not seedling method. Sowing is done around mid-April. Young sprouts withstand frosts down to -8 ° C. If sharp cold snaps occur in the region in spring, the seedlings are covered with non-woven material.

How to sow spinach seeds outdoors:

1. As for sowing seedlings, seeds for soil are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate.
2. Before planting, spring soil can be fertilized with nitrogen.
3. Seeds are immersed in the soil to a depth of 1.5-3 cm. A distance of 8-10 cm is observed between them. It is better to leave about 30 cm between rows.

Sowing spinach is also possible in summer (at the end of June), and in warm regions - until mid-September.

Caring for spinach in the open field is practically no different from caring for seedlings on the windowsill. The plant also needs abundant watering, loosening the soil and fertilizing.

Strengthened seedlings from the windowsill move to open ground when the soil on the site warms up well. At first, young plantings need to be sheltered from the spring sun and protected from daily temperature changes. For this, arcs are installed and covered with agrofibre.

Growing problems

If the seedlings are stretched, then you need to increase the amount of light. It is better to move the boxes from the north, east and west windows to the south or install a lamp for additional lighting. If the spinach develops extremely slowly, the sprouts have small and weak leaves, then fertilizers must be applied to the soil.

Diseases of spinach seedlings:

1. Fusarium is a fungal disease. It manifests itself as darkening of the leaves and stopping their growth. lower leaves turn yellow and die.
2. Anthracnose - spots of a brown or grayish hue caused by a fungus.
3. Root rot is another fungal disease that mainly affects young plantings. It appears as spots with a fungal formation in the center.

If the fungus has struck a small part of the plant, then it is removed, and the seedlings are treated with a fungicide solution. If it's damaged most of spinach, it is better to dig it up and plant new seeds.

Important! The leaves of the affected plant are not edible! They need to be thrown out.

Pests of seedlings appear only in open ground conditions, on indoor seedlings they are extremely rare.

Examples of pests:

• owl caterpillar,
• beet fly.

To expel the pest from the plantings, the bed is treated with a solution of the substance anabazine sulfate: for 10 liters of water - 15 cm 3.

When and how to harvest

The crop is harvested with the appearance of 5-7 leaves on a sprout, while all the leaves are plucked at once, leaving a rosette, or part of them. Experienced gardeners it is recommended to cut off no more than half of the crop in one approach: this way the formation of leaves will last for several weeks.

To separate the sheet, it is broken off or cut off. It is not recommended to pull and abruptly tear off, so as not to damage the entire plant.

The harvest takes place in the evening. It is noticed that the leaves plucked during the day quickly wither. If spinach grows outdoors, the leaves are not cut during or after rain, as they quickly rot when wet.

After the appearance of the peduncle, the taste of the leaves changes, becomes rancid.

Storage

Fresh green spinach is stored for 5-7 days at a temperature of 0 to +1. If the leaves are placed in the refrigerator, wipe them dry.

Advice! The sooner a plucked leaf is eaten, the more benefits it will provide to the body. From long-term storage, greens lose valuable substances.

1. For freezing, the leaves are washed, dried, cut off the roots. Spinach can be frozen whole or sliced. A good option is to blanch the greens before moving to the freezer (pour over with boiling water).
2. Spinach leaves are also stored in the form of mashed potatoes: they are washed, dipped in a blender and chopped.
3. The spinach crop is dried in a shaded, dry place, preferably outdoors. After a few days, the leaves are moved to fabric bags and sent for storage.
4. Salting is not the most popular way to harvest spinach. Peeled leaves are placed in jars and sprinkled with salt. The product is stored strictly in the cold and for a short time.

Benefits of spinach

Spinach is useful not only fresh, but also as a winter preparation. This green is a source of fiber, vitamins A, B, C, E, K, P, PP, trace elements (iron, potassium, magnesium), organic acids, flavonoids and vegetable protein.

Spinach is useful for children as a prophylactic against rickets, has a positive effect on the health of the stomach, stimulates the intestines, improves blood composition and much more. Spinach saturates the weakened body with vitamins, is an integral part of the diet menu.

If you want to easily grow a useful and pretty plant, then no the best option than spinach bushes. The greenery of this plant enlivens the room, looks neat on the site, and most importantly, it is a tasty and valuable product for health.

I am a big fan of green crops and what kind of greenery is not planted in my country house.

Over time, I will try to tell about everyone.

And now a little about spinach, about this dietary greens.

Botanical reference

Spinach- an annual herbaceous plant from the amaranth family (in the older classification - haze). It forms small rosettes of 6-10 basal leaves and an upright stem.

Depending on the variety, appearance leaves are different - they can be matte and glossy, have different degrees of wrinkling and color - from light green to dark - and even gray-green.

Where is he from

Spinach from ancient persia(Iran). Then from there he came to China, and later was brought by the Moors to Spain.

Spinach appeared in Europe in the 15th century, and for a long time was known as the "Spanish vegetable".

In Russia, they began to cultivate spinach in the middle of the 18th century, but both then and now it has not received wide distribution.

A storehouse of vitamins

And here is and in vain! After all, spinach is one of the most useful green crops and is a storehouse of vitamins and microelements, which are largely preserved in it even after heat treatment.

It is rich in vitamins K, A and B9, manganese, iron and magnesium, it also has a lot of vitamins C, B2, B6 and E, potassium and calcium. Protein is present in significant doses.

And all this speaks not only of the multivitamin value of this vegetable, but also of the presence of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in it.

Italian scientists have come to the conclusion that spinach very effectively improves mood and helps to quickly remember the right things.

And besides the fact that it is very healthy, this leafy vegetable is also tasty and perfect for preparing salads, side dishes for meat dishes, soups, omelettes and even pies.

We grow correctly

Spinach is one of the earliest vegetable plants. And, since it is cold-resistant, it is better to sow it as early as possible, around April 15-20, winter crops are also possible.

Seed germination begins already at a temperature of 3-4ºС, and adult plants tolerate frosts even down to minus 4-5ºС. But still optimum temperature for spinach growth - 15-18ºС.

The plant does not tolerate heat well, and at temperatures above 20ºС, some of its varieties can throw out flower arrows.

Spinach prefers fertile loose soils with a neutral reaction, the most suitable areas for it are well fertilized in the previous season with organic fertilizers.

Fresh organic fertilizers(manure, slurry, etc.) should not be applied directly under spinach - they worsen the taste of the leaves and lead to the accumulation of nitrates in them.

spinach needs high humidity soil and is considered one of the most moisture-loving crops, so it needs to be watered almost every day. However, an excess of moisture is also harmful, as it can lead to rotting of sockets.

Sowing and care

In early spring, spinach is sown in greenhouses and greenhouses, and later in open ground. To speed up, you can sow seeds soaked for two to three days.

We sow the seeds in grooves to a depth of 2-2.5 cm, distribute them in a row at a distance of 5-8 cm from each other. The distance between the grooves is 20 cm.

After sowing, lightly tamp the soil, then water it. And after 7-14 days shoots appear. When closing plants, we thin them out so that the remaining plants are at a distance of 15 cm from each other.

Spinach care is something like this: regular watering, weeding and loosening. To reduce the dose of watering and loosen less often and, thereby, make your work easier, you can mulch the soil.

Periodically combine watering with top dressing. Spinach loves it. We feed it with complex fertilizers ("Kemira", nitrophoska) in combination with nitrogen, for example, urea.

But we will be careful with nitrogen fertilizing - so that nitrates do not accumulate in the leaves. I do not advise feeding spinach with phosphorus and potash fertilizers, as they help accelerate the shooting of plants.

We remove selectively

We remove the spinach selectively, in the phase of 3-4 leaves and in the full phase - 6-7 leaves.

In no case should you be late with cleaning, as overgrown leaves quickly coarsen.

When flower stalks already appear, the leaves should not be eaten.

I hope I have convinced you, dear friends, of the benefits of this vegetable and you will not forget to plant spinach in your home.

See you soon, dear friends!

Spinach is an early maturing plant, which makes it possible to harvest from April to August. It is a cold hardy annual crop. The optimal temperature for growth is considered to be 15 ° C. But this plant can withstand frost. Spinach began to gain popularity recently, but due to the presence of a huge amount of useful substances and vitamins in its composition, the demand for this crop is rapidly increasing.

Culture Features

Spinach has a significant nutritional value. Its distinctive feature is the ability to save useful elements in any state. After heat treatment or frozen, it will be almost as useful as raw. Spinach contains ascorbic, oxalic, linolenic and oleic acids, as well as carotene, phosphorus, manganese, iodine, calcium, sodium, iron, copper, vitamins K, E, P, PP, B. Spinach helps to strengthen the nervous system, normalize the activity of the digestive tract. It helps to stabilize the condition with anemia. But its use must be limited in case of impaired liver and kidney function.

Spinach varieties

There are many varieties of this culture. Consider the most common:

Among the early ripening varieties, the varieties "Giant" and "Stoic" can be distinguished. They take 15 to 20 days to mature.

Mid-season varieties include "Matador" and "Krepysh". These crops ripen within 25-30 days.

It will take from 30 to 35 days to get a harvest from late-ripening varieties such as Victoria or Zhirnolistny.

Soil preparation

Spinach is planted in fertile sandy and loamy soils. But this culture is unpretentious to the growing environment and is able to produce a crop on other soil, subject to certain rules. Spinach grown in sandy soils needs to be watered abundantly. When choosing a place to plant, it should be borne in mind that this plant needs sunlight. Lack of lighting will reduce the content of vitamin C in the leaves of the crop. Before planting, it is recommended to prepare the soil beforehand.
This process is carried out in two stages:

In the fall, humus should be distributed over the area where the crop is supposed to be grown, and then the soil should be dug up. Then the soil is enriched with superphosphate and potassium chloride. If there is a need for liming, fluff lime, dolomite flour or crushed chalk is added.

In the spring, urea is used to saturate the soil with the necessary elements. Manure in the spring is not recommended, as this will adversely affect the taste of the crop.

planting spinach

Growing spinach makes it possible to continuously, throughout the season, include fresh greens in the diet. You can plant this crop in autumn or spring. If you plant the seeds in September, with the advent of spring, spinach can already be harvested. The first shoots will appear even before frost, and 13-15 days after the snow melts, the culture will ripen. In the spring, spinach is sown until April 15th.
Seeds before planting must undergo preliminary preparation:

They are placed in warm water at a temperature of + 25 ° C for 48 hours, while every 4 hours the liquid must be changed.

Then planting material should dry.

Shallow trenches are made at a distance of 20 cm on the site. Approximately 5 g of planting material is consumed per 1 m.

Seeds are planted 5 cm apart. They should be buried approximately 2 cm into the ground, then pour a layer of earth on top and water the culture.

The first shoots appear after 2 weeks.

How to grow spinach in the garden

Spinach is a moisture-loving crop. Water it up to 4 times a week. About 10 liters of water are used per 1 m2 so that the liquid can penetrate to a depth of 10 cm. During the period of precipitation, the rate should be reduced. If all necessary preparatory measures, the soil in the process of growing a crop does not need additional enrichment with nutrients. But if the spinach does not develop well enough or has a pale color, it should be watered with urea diluted in water.
This culture must be thinned out so that neighboring plants do not touch each other with leaves. During this procedure, small and weak shoots are removed. If the spinach shoots early and shoots quickly, this process can be delayed by placing an arc and covering the area with an opaque film. The soil should be regularly weeded to prevent the spread of weeds.

Harvesting

It will take 20 to 30 days for the culture to mature. The main sign that spinach is ready to eat is the presence of 5 to 7 leaves. Features of the collection and harvesting of culture are given below:

Leaves must be harvested before stem formation.

The best time to harvest is early in the morning, as spinach retains its appearance longer. It can be uprooted or cut.

Leaves should be stored in the refrigerator for a week.

During this period, the culture retains all useful properties.

For longer storage, spinach should be frozen.

Strawberry spinach: how to grow

This culture got its name due to the presence of fruits that have an external resemblance to strawberry fruits. Both leaves and berries can be eaten. This is an annual cold-resistant plant belonging to the haze family. Strawberry spinach is characterized by unpretentiousness to growing conditions. It can be planted in any soil. The culture withstands temperatures down to -10 ° C, tolerates hot weather well.

Spinach can be grown in two ways:

seedlings;

reckless.

The first option allows you to get greenery in early spring. To do this, in early March, seedlings begin to grow. Pour the soil into the prepared containers, place the seeds in it, sprinkle them with earth and water. To speed up the emergence of seedlings, the pots are covered with a film. This creates a greenhouse effect. The first shoots will appear after two weeks. After that, the film should be removed, otherwise mold will appear on the plant and fungal diseases. When 4-5 leaves appear on spinach, it can be planted in open ground.

You can start growing with a seedless method immediately after the snow melts. For planting, you need to prepare holes that should be placed at a distance of 40 cm from each other. Several units of seeds are placed in one hole. When seedlings grow up, the culture must be thinned out. Strawberry spinach is drought tolerant, but should be watered when possible. Abundant watering will allow you to get juicy and large fruits. Also, the culture must be weeded, especially at an early stage of growth. When the spinach grows up, weeding can be abandoned. Its overgrown branches will become a kind of obstacle to the spread of weeds.

Fertilizers for spinach

One of the conditions for obtaining a high-quality spinach crop is soil enrichment. nutrients. This can be done with the help of organic and mineral substances. Consider fertilizers that saturate the soil before planting spinach.

Urea is added to the soil. This substance has a high concentration of nitrogen. This fertilizer is white in color and comes in granular form. Before use, it must be dissolved in water. When applied to the soil per 1 m 2, 15-20 g of this product is required.

Urea can be used as a foliar top dressing. To do this, it is diluted at the rate of 50 g per 10 liters of water for spraying an area of ​​100 m 2. Simultaneously with urea, superphosphate or lime cannot be added.

Superphosphate refers to phosphate fertilizers. Available in powder and granular form. It contains phosphorite and phosphoric acid. 50-60 g of the substance is applied per 1 m 2. This fertilizer is suitable for acidic soils, because due to the presence of calcium sulfate, it does not increase the acidity of the soil.

Potassium chloride is a representative of the potassium group of fertilizers. It has the appearance of a white, gray or pink crystalline powder. It contains potassium oxide. The soil is applied at the rate of 30 g per 1 m 2. Potassium chloride enriches the soil structure mainly in the autumn.

Dolomite flour is a magnesium fertilizer. Contains calcium and magnesium, used for the purpose of liming the soil.

Humus is a dark loose mass formed as a result of the decomposition of manure. This fertilizer contains the maximum concentration of nutrients. But in order for them to be preserved, humus must be properly stored. For this purpose, it is necessary to allocate a small area on dense soil. If this is not possible, sandy soil is also suitable, but it must first be covered with plastic wrap.

Peat or straw is initially laid on it with a layer of 25-30 cm. This is necessary to absorb slurry. Then fertilizer is placed on the laid layer and compacted. The height of the manure should not exceed 1.5 m, and the width - 2 m. The length can be arbitrary. If manure is stored for long-term storage, it must be covered with a layer of earth of 20 cm from above. For short-term storage, ordinary film is suitable. 5-6 kg of such fertilizer is used per square meter of soil.

Compost improves soil structure and saturates its upper layers with nutrients. For compost mass, you can use food waste, grass, chopped branches, coffee grounds, tea leaves, sawdust, straw, hay. To prepare this fertilizer, you need to prepare a pit or container 1.5 m high and 2x2 m wide. It is not recommended to use a container exceeding these parameters, since the mass will overheat and not be sufficiently ventilated. Under such conditions, the necessary microflora does not develop. In a smaller container, the fertilizer will not reach the required temperature.

Branches are placed at the bottom of the tank, which will play the role of drainage. Next, you can stack organic waste. The thickness of each layer should be from 30 to 50 cm. To speed up the decomposition process, the mass should be periodically mixed. The compost will be ready to use when it is crumbly and dark in color.

Diseases and pests

Spinach can be affected by fungal diseases such as root rot and downy mildew. The presence of the first disease can be determined by the blackened root. Rot affects the entire root system, causing the plant to die. The spread of the disease is facilitated by soil compaction. To prevent the appearance of rot, the soil should be periodically loosened.

If there are spots on the leaves yellow color and gray-purple bloom, the plant is affected by downy mildew, and appropriate measures must be taken. The leaves are smeared with colloidal or ground sulfur, after which the culture is treated with mullein infusion or sulfur suspension.

Spinach pests include the miner fly. In early June, on the back of the leaves, she lays eggs, from which larvae subsequently appear. They bite into the leaf, as a result of which swollen spots appear on it and the plant dries out. The following measures will help protect the crop from this pest:

You can not plant spinach near the beds with beets.

Affected leaves and weeds should be removed regularly.

Aphids can also infect spinach. You can get rid of it with a solution of laundry or potassium soap. For 10 liters of water, 300 g will be required. The affected areas are sprayed with this product for 7-10 days. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

Conclusion

Spinach is a fairly unpretentious plant, which makes it much easier to grow. Caring for this crop involves standard actions: thinning, watering, weeding. Enriching the soil with nutrients will help to get a quality crop.

Spinach. Video: