Grow Your Own Organic Spinach

If you've never had spinach straight from the garden, this is your year to fall in love with spinach. Those leaves are so sweet and delicious (yes, really!) when you eat them right after harvest.

They're also way better for you since spinach starts to lose nutrients almost as soon as it's cut from the plant. (Spinach is a member of the Amaranth plant family, which also includes beets and Swiss chard—all foods that are chockfull of antioxidants, vitamins, and tons of fiber.)

Plus, is there anything worse than paying $7 for a bag of organic spinach leaves, only to have it turn to slime in the back of your fridge? I've had that happen more times than I care to admit, but it doesn't happen now because I'm growing my own. The leaves that I'll toss in my next spinach salad or spinach smoothie are staying fresh and tasty right in my garden.  

Here's your complete guide to growing organic spinach.

The Best Spinach Variety to Grow

There are actually 3 different types of spinach, so you can really broaden your spinach horizons by growing your own. Smooth spinach is the most popular variety sold at grocery stores, mostly because it's the easiest to wash. You can also grow savoy spinach, which is bumpy, and semi savoy spinach.

After planting lots of different varieties of spinach over the years, I've consistently found Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach to be the best and easiest to grow. These spinach plants are slower to bolt when the weather warms (the name doesn't lie) and produce such glossy and tender leaves that are so different from what you find in the produce aisle.

Ideal Spinach Growing Conditions

Overall, spinach is a fairly easy plant to grow. Like all plants, it does have certain conditions under which it prefers to be grown, and you can keep your plants happy and producing leaf after leaf for you if you keep the following in mind.

season

Spinach is a cool season plant. Grow your spinach when you have a period of 8 to 12 weeks with temperatures mostly between 45 and 75°F, and don't stress if a little frost comes your way. Your leaves will actually taste sweeter after a touch of frost.

If your temperatures will rise above 80°F in the next two months, consider growing your spinach indoors or look for more heat-resistant varieties. Warm weather will eventually cause your plants to bolt (more on that in a bit).

soil

Spinach loves to grow in a sandy loam soil that provides good drainage. This leafy green hates to have its roots stay wet for long periods of time.

sunlight

Spinach needs at least 4 hours of sunlight a day to grow and produce leaves. If the temperature will spike above 80°F, spinach benefits from shade during the hotter parts of the day.

When to Plant Spinach

The ideal temperatures range for growing spinach is between 45 and 75°F, but spinach thrives when daytime temps climb no higher than the 60s. For most of us, the best time to grow spinach is in the spring and fall.

You can begin sowing spinach seeds as soon as your soil is workable in the spring, well before your last frost date. Keep planting as long as your temps are nice and cool. The trick is to get your plants in the garden early so they'll give you tons of leaf harvests before the weather warms up.

Stop once you're expecting your temps to rise into the 80s during the day. This is the time to grow more heat-tolerant greens like arugula, Malabar spinach (not really spinach), and New Zealand spinach (also not really spinach).

Wait until your temps have dropped below 85°F to start planting spinach again in the late summer or early fall. Consider wrapping your spinach seeds in a damp paper towel and keeping them in a plastic bag in the fridge for 4 to 5 days before sowing them to mimic cool weather and help speed up germination.

If you live somewhere with milder winters, you'll be able to grow these frost-hardy leaves all winter long. Even those of you in colder climates can keep your spinach plants alive by protecting them with cold frames, frost cloth, or floating row covers.

Where to Grow Spinach

I love growing spinach in large containers or raised beds. Spinach has a small root system, so it does well in a growing space at least 6 inches deep, like this salad box or this steel tub planter with wheels.

Growing spinach in containers

If you're not ready to commit to a full raised-bed kitchen garden, planting spinach in a container is the perfect introduction to growing a little bit of your own delicious food. I recommend picking a container at least 12 inches deep and wide so that you'll be able to harvest enough leaves to fill a salad bowl. (Explore our favorite containers for growing spinach and other salad greens.)

If your container doesn't already have good drainage holes in the bottom, make sure to add some with a drill (aim for at least one drainage hole for every square foot of your planter).

You can grow just spinach or mix in lettuce plants, marigolds, or parsley—all plants that like similar growing conditions to spinach. The great thing about growing your spinach in a container is that you can move the container around to follow the sunlight. During the colder months, you can let your spinach plants get more hours of light because the sun is further away and the temperatures are lower. 

How to Plant Spinach

Spinach grows really when it's direct sown right in the garden, but you can also start it by seed indoors if you want to get a jumpstart on your season. I don't recommend buying little spinach plants from the store because spinach grows so quickly. Save your money for larger plants that take a much longer time to reach maturity.

Buy organic spinach seeds from a reputable seed company online or look for locally sourced organic spinach seeds from a nursery near you. What's great about those seeds is they'll be used to growing in your climate.

Note: Spinach seeds are pretty small—they look like tiny pebbles—but it's worth it to take the time to spread them out a bit as you're sowing the seeds to prevent having to thin them later once too many seeds come up close together.

Follow these steps to sow spinach seeds (find a more in-depth planting guide here).

Steps to Sow Spinach Seeds

• Add a 1-inch thick layer of fresh compost to the planting area. You can also sprinkle some earthworm castings on the soil surface for an extra nutritional boost. Use a small hand rake to level the surface.
• I recommend using a planting ruler or a planting line to ensure nice, straight lines. Sow your seeds just 1/2 inch deep (meaning you should barely bury them at all) and spaced about 2 inches apart. Stagger your rows. Wait until you've sown all your seeds to cover them up.
• Add a plant tag to mark where you've planted your rows.
• Keep the soil evenly moist until seeds germinate (which typically takes about 7 to 14 days). I come out and water every day for the first 2 weeks after sowing seeds. Cross your fingers that your beds will be packed with spinach in just 30 to 35 days!

If you'll continue to enjoy cool weather, sow another batch of spinach seeds in a couple weeks for more continuous harvests.

The Best Companion Plants for Spinach

I love to interplant garlic with spinach for a little added protection from pests. The strong scent of garlic repels many pests and masks the smell of your spinach leaves from others.

These two plants also fit together like puzzle pieces. Spinach has a small root structure but fans out up top, while garlic needs to swell underground but takes up hardly any space above the soil.

You can also grow spinach near these leafy greens, root crops, herbs, and flowers.

How to Tend Spinach Plants

Here are a couple easy tending tasks to keep your plants healthy and productive:

Pruning Spinach

Once your spinach seedlings have developed several sets of leaves, thin any plants that have popped up a little too close together. Thin by using a clean pair of scissors to cut extra seedlings at their base, just above the soil. Whatever you thin can be used like a microgreen and tossed onto a salad.

Beyond thinning, make sure to prune any leaves that are yellowed or damaged by pests.

Fertilizing Spinach

Organic matter like compost will provide most of the nutrition that spinach needs to produce healthy green leaves. As your plants are maturing, you can give them a little nutritional boost by applying an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen to promote healthy leaf growth.

Protecting Spinach from Pests

The best way to protect your plants from pests is by preventing pests from ever having access. Cover your plants with garden mesh, or agfabric, to keep creepy crawlies (and the moths that lay them) out of your salad garden. Learn more about the simple mesh barrier I put between my appetizing leafy greens and any critters that want to snack on them.

Watering Spinach

Instead of giving spinach plants a deep watering once a week as you might other plants, consider watering spinach a little every single day or every other day to keep the soil moist but not soaking. The roots are short and can't reach deep into the soil for water when they're thirsty.

Because soil in a container dries out much faster than soil in a raised bed, make sure to check the moisture level in a container every day to be sure the soil isn't too dry or too wet.

Protecting Spinach from Weather

Spinach is frost-hardy, but if you're expecting a freeze and you've just sown seeds or your plants aren't established yet, cover your garden with frost cloth at night. I planted some spinach in November here in Nashville, and a lot of the seeds never sprouted. That's because I didn't protect the garden bed from some cold snaps we had, so that was my bad. On warmer days, you can uncover your plants.

Then, as the weather warms up, you can use shade cloth when the temps are expected to go over 80°F. Your spinach plants will eventually bolt thanks to the longer days and the higher temps, but you can buy your plants some extra time (and get a couple more leaf harvests in the meantime).

How to Grow Spinach Indoors

Thanks to modern technology (or a bright windowsill) we can grow herbs, lettuce plants, and spinach indoors and enjoy garden-fresh greens year round. Bonus, you don't have to worry about garden pests!

When it's too hot or cold outdoors for your spinach plants to thrive, grow your spinach indoors. Just fill a container with a mix of potting soil and compost. Pick a sunny spot on a windowsill or purchase a full-spectrum LED grow light. Leave your grow lights on for 12 to 14 hours a day.

Troubleshooting Spinach Growing Issues

Here are some common problems gardeners face when growing spinach and potential solutions.

Spinach Fails to Germinate

Keep in mind that spinach seeds are slow to germinate, or sprout, with most spinach varieties needing about 2 weeks. You might think nothing is happening because you're not seeing anything pop out of the soil, but be patient. If the time to germination on the seed package has passed, then the answer is bad seeds, expired seeds, or seeds that were planted too deeply.

These are small seeds, and you never want to plant a seed deeper than twice the width of the seed. That's just half an inch deep for spinach seeds. If you've dug a deep hole for spinach seeds, then those seeds might actually germinate, but their shoots will die before they ever find the surface and that much-needed sunlight.

Spinach not producing lots of leaves

This is most likely because the spinach did not receive enough sunlight or feel it had enough space in the garden. First, make sure spinach receives 4 to 6 hours of sun per day.

Next, check the spacing between your plants. The tight spacing I recommended in the planting section assumes you'll be harvesting from your plants frequently. Pruning or harvesting those older, outer leaves often ensures the plants have access to resources they need like sunlight and air flow.

Pests attacking spinach

Spinach can occasionally fall prey to aphids or leaf miners. If pests are attacking your spinach leaves, first prune away any leaves with holes or discoloration. If the pest issue continues, treat the leaves with castile soap or garlic barrier spray.

Spinach growing tall

When your spinach plant suddenly develops a thicker main stalk, increases in height, and starts growing more angular leaves, your plant is doing something called bolting. Spinach usually bolts when the weather grows too warm and the plants decide they're nearing the end of their time in the garden. Bolting is good news for you if you want to save your own seeds (cuz that's what's coming!) and bad news for you if you want more delicious leaves.

Prolong the plant's remaining time in your garden by cutting the tall stalk and providing afternoon shade. The leaves are perfectly fine to eat until you find them unpleasant.

You know, I often hear people say, "I have no luck growing spinach," or "When I try to grow spinach, it just attracts pests and then bolts." This typically happens because people are trying to grow spinach at the wrong time of year. Remember, summer is not spinach season. Many spinach problems are really just timing issues. Learn more about bolting spinach and how to extend your enjoyment of spinach in the garden.

How to Harvest Spinach

Spinach grows super fast, taking only 40 to 45 days to reach maturity. Depending on the variety you're growing, you can begin to harvest “baby spinach” leaves after about 25 days.

Remember, harvest older, outer leaves from each plant frequently to maintain good air flow between your plants and prevent disease and pests. Spinach is what we call a cut-and-come-again plant, so you can return in a week or so to harvest more leaves from your plants, just as you would from lettuce, arugula, kale, and Swiss chard.

To harvest spinach, use a clean pair of scissors or pruners to harvest each stem close to the base. You can also use your fingers to pinch off each stem. Your spinach leaves will be the sweetest, have the best texture, and last longer if you harvest in the morning.

Once your spinach plants are in full production mode, take double harvests; use half of your leaves fresh and freeze the other half to toss into smoothies during the warmer months.

My Favorite Ways to Enjoy Fresh Spinach Leaves

There are so many ways to use up your spinach leaves while they're fresh. (Frozen leaves, by the way, are ideal for smoothies or cooked dishes.)

I drink a green smoothie made with garden-fresh kale or spinach leaves every morning—that's a health practice I started when I had little kids and a hectic schedule to guarantee I put at least one vegetable into my body every day. Smoothies don't take very long to make, and you can bring them with you out the door. Spinach smoothies are also great for clearing your digestive system, if you know what I mean.

I also love tossing these leaves into salads, especially when they're younger and smaller leaves.

You could use larger, more mature spinach leaves for wraps in lieu of lettuce leaves. Another one of my favorite ways to enjoy spinach leaves is in frittatas. I got this idea from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle (the book that got me gardening in the first place). Frittatas are super easy to make, and if you have spinach in the garden, they're even easier.

That's the thing: it's so much easier to get your greens for the day when they're growing right out back. I've noticed during times that my garden wasn't set up yet between moves that I eat way fewer leafy greens, and when I do buy them, I spend a ton of money. It's not nearly as convenient to make green smoothies or juices when you don't have greens growing in your garden.

That's How You Replace Store-Bought Spinach with Homegrown

You probably don't live in a place that has ideal outdoor growing conditions for spinach 365 days of the year. But thanks to frost protection in the winter and artificial lights for indoor growing in the summer, it's more than possible to grow your own spinach all 12 months.

Even if you don't use any methods to extend your season, you can probably grow spinach for about 6 months out of the year. Enjoy as much fresh spinach as possible and save the rest of your harvest in the freezer for your summer supply.

Once you taste the difference between store-bought and homegrown spinach, you just might be inspired to never stop growing your own delicious gourmet spinach!