How to Grow Spinach Step-by-Step Guide for Best Garden Greens

While spinach may not give you immediate bulging muscles like it did Popeye, it is high in nutrients that will strengthen your health. Learn how to grow spinach in the garden for a hardy plant that can be planted successively from spring to late fall. Spinach is high in vitamins A, C, K and folate. It also contains manganese, potassium, iron and phytonutrients. It can survive temperatures as low as 20 F degrees. There are two types of spinach you can choose to grow in your garden. Savoy spinach has a textured leaf that often gets soil caught in the crinkles, or you can choose smooth leaf spinach if you want to avoid soil grit.

How to Grow Spinach

What You Need

Spinach seed

Shovel

5–10-10 Fertilizer

Paper towels

Plastic bag

Mulch

33–0‑0 Fertilizer

Step 1

Select an area with direct sunlight for growing your spinach. Begin planting in early spring.

Step 2

Prepare the soil to a depth of 6 inches. Add 3 pounds of 5–10-10 fertilizer per 100 square foot of garden area

Step 3

Moisten two paper towels with water. Place your spinach seeds between the two layers of paper towels. Place the wrapped seeds in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator. Remove the seeds once they begin to sprout.

Step 4

Plant each seed at a depth of ½ inch in the soil. Space each planting 2 inches apart in rows 1 foot apart.

Step 5

Water your spinach each morning to a depth of about 6 inches. Allow the soil to dry each evening before the next watering.

Step 6

Add mulch around your spinach plants to maintain moisture and suppress weeds from growing after your plants develop 3 to 4 leaves.

Step 7

Add a side-dressing of 33–0‑0 fertilizer at a rate of 1 pound per 100 feet of row when growth or your spinach begins to slow down.

Step 8

Harvest spinach leaves once they reach more than 3 inches in length by cutting off individual outer leaves. Allow the inner leaves to continue growing until they are ready to be harvested.