Spinach may be the most celebrated green vegetable in cartoon history , thanks to Popeye and Olive Oyl .
Whether it owe its popularity to its pop - culture renown , to its versatility in the kitchen or to its nutritionary benefits can be argue . Its tenuous shoes in a regular - season garden sure as shooting is not what made it famous .
In the garden , prickly-seeded spinach is a cool - weather friend , overwinter to 25 grade F and even colder with the help of dustup cover or a low tunnel . At the farmers market and among local - nutrient chefs , a pocket-size - scale agriculturalist could sell the leafy green all year long at seemingly any price .
If only it were as easy to grow as it is to sell !
When should you sow spinach ? Not in the spring , it turns out .
Types of Spinach
When we talk about “ spinach plant ” in the U.S. , we almost always meanSpinacia oleracea , the ship’s boat - leaved relative of beets and Swiss chard . Within this species , there are 12 of diversity — evenheirloom I — with unlike leaf types : flat , savoy ( curly ) and semi - savoy cabbage .
The straight - leaf spinach is easy to strip for cooking , though the savoy cabbage may be more flavorful and more durable .
aside from what we mean of as standard plant , there are other spinach plant grown the human beings over . New Zealand spinach plant ( Tetragonia tetragonioides ) and Malabar Spinacia oleracea ( Basella alba ) are two to eff . They look a quite a little like spinach - spinach , but they ’re both heat tolerant . They have thick leaves — the word mucilaginous come up to mind — and I prefer eating them cooked rather than raw .
How to Grow
Spinach does best when direct - sow into bass , nitrogen - fat soil . The works evolve a surprisingly hard taproot — plausibly what helps it to mine the nutrient it ’s cognize for — so it like deep grease .
As mention above , spinach wants nerveless conditions . Plant it in the fall , if you’re able to , and you ’ll be harvesting in late winter and early springiness , aright around the clock time you ’re heroic for invigorated greenish food .
you may also plant in early spring , about a calendar month before last frost , but your harvest window is much shorter this metre of year , before the flea beetles , aphids and foliage miners emerge and the days get too warm .
Spinach will grow slower during the short day of winter and other springtime , but it ’s less potential to absquatulate then . Do n’t fret if you do n’t see the product you think you should . After a skillful stretching of rain followed by sunniness , you ’ll wonder what you ’re supposed to do with all the leaves you have !
Check out this recipe for spanakopita !
How to Eat
I ’m one of those weird people who admit that spinach is n’t my all - time - favorite leafy green . ( Spoiler alert : It ’s kale . )
Still , there ’s no shortfall of way that I make out to eat the leafy greens . I did n’t expend a calendar month at a bakery in Greece without inhaling my share of spanakopita , after all . ( See above for a formula . )
meld prickly-seeded spinach intosoup , making it the adept of yourspringtime salad , and layer it intoa lasagna(with your home - canned tomatoes , of course of action ) are all wonderful way to ferment this alimental green into your diet .
My favorite way to eat prickly-seeded spinach is desegregate in to a coconut curry — spinach , eggplant , mellisonant potato and chickpea curry is my best-loved homemade curry , to be exact . If charmer are your matter , spinach is a great gain .
In times of surplusage , blanch , chop and freeze the leaves so you may add them to your cooked meal year - round .
While spinach plant may not be a beginner ’s crop because of its finicky nerveless - weather condition nature , it ’s deserving a shot in your 2nd or third year of serious horticulture . Having this alimental - dense food for thought wait outside your door as wintertime cart on can make that time of class less terrible .
