Grow Nutritious Spinach in Fall

By John Navazio
Published on August 1, 2002
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Had little luck with spring-sown spinach? Bust the slump by planting this brilliantly green, nutrition-packed vegetable at summer’s end.
Had little luck with spring-sown spinach? Bust the slump by planting this brilliantly green, nutrition-packed vegetable at summer’s end.
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Harvest heart-healthy spinach well into the chillier chunks of the calendar, long after most other leafy crops have called it a day.
Harvest heart-healthy spinach well into the chillier chunks of the calendar, long after most other leafy crops have called it a day.
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Spinach is cold-hardy and can overwinter with ease, even in northern areas.
Spinach is cold-hardy and can overwinter with ease, even in northern areas.
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This great-for-you green shines in showy main courses but also stripped-down and even solo. Try spinach steamed with butter or vinegar, wilted into a salad, or simply as is.
This great-for-you green shines in showy main courses but also stripped-down and even solo. Try spinach steamed with butter or vinegar, wilted into a salad, or simply as is.

Spinach ranks as one of the most delicious and tender of all the leafy greens, yet this delightful crop is conspicuously absent from many gardens. The reason? Frustration likely settled in for growers who had planted spinach in spring and reaped only a small harvest of undersized, parched leaves before the spindly central flower stalk appeared, signaling the plant was starting to bolt or run to seed.

What’s the best remedy for the spring spinach blues? Plant a fall crop! By planting spinach at the end of summer, your crop will get off to a running start and mature to its luscious best during the cool, golden days of fall.

Understanding Spinach

To appreciate why spring-sown spinach misbehaves, one must be familiar with the plant’s humble origins. Spinach is a cool-season vegetable originally grown in fall and winter in the fertile agricultural valleys of the Middle East. In spring, longer days and higher temperatures prompt spinach to finish its cycle and go to seed.

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