RHS Growing Guides
How to grow spinach
Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Spinach.
Getting Started
Delicious and nutritious, spinach provides plentiful and repeated harvest. It’s a compact and speedy crop to fit in small spaces and containers, and can even be grown in light shade in warm weather. You can enjoy harvests for most of the year if you sow little and often.
Spinach is quick to grow, but needs fertile soil that doesn’t dry out. It does best in milder temperatures (ideally 15–20°C/60–70°F), as cold or hot, dry conditions can cause it to start flowering prematurely (bolting), putting an end to harvests. Sow in light shade in warmer weather to keep it cool, and water regularly. Protect spinach from slugs and snails, especially in damp conditions.
These compact plants (up to 20cm/8in tall) are handy if space is tight and they can be grown in containers too. Spinach is also a useful crop for cooler, shady spots in early or late summer, out of midday heat. It needs full sun at other times of year.
Sow small batches regularly and harvest as a
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Choosing
There are many delicious varieties of annual spinach (Spinacia oleracea), for fast-growing, productive, short-term crops, to sow repeatedly. Savoy types have large puckered leaves, while smooth-leaved types have flat, more upright leaves and are generally more robust.
Some varieties produce particularly large leaves or have attractive red stems. Some are resistant to bolting or downy mildew. For overwintering, take care to choose a hardy variety – check seed packets for sowing times.
Ten varieties of spinach have an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), which shows they performed well in trials – see our list of AGM fruit and veg for recommended varieties of spinach and many other crops.
You can also choose perpetual spinach, for longer-term harvests for up to a whole year – this is useful if space is limited, as plants crop for many months. It’s a type of spinach/leaf beet or chard and is grown in a similar way to spinach – also see chard for more details.
Various other crops have spinach in their common names, as they’re used in a similar way, but are often unrelated to annual spinach. Some cope better with summer heat. Examples include:
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New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides) – a tender plant that grows well in hot weather and full sun
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Tree spinach (Chenopodium giganteum) – a tall plant with pink young leaves
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Red mountain spinach or red orach (Atriplex hortensis var. rubra) – has attractive deep red foliage
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Malabar or Indian spinach (Basella alba) – a succulent-leaved, tender climber that needs very warm temperatures
For more veg-growing inspiration, visit any of the RHS gardens, as they all grow wide range of quick and easy salad crops and much more.
What and where to buy
Spinach seeds are widely available from most gardening retailers all year round. Packets usually contain plenty of seeds for repeated sowings.
Recommended Varieties
Hardy annual with deep green crunchy leaves that are slightly blistered. Tastes mildly sweet and earthy, but juicy and...
Fast growing F1 variety. Slow to bolt and suitable for container growing. Good performer in a range of growing conditions.
Is actually a chard but similar to a true spinach in flavour and much easier to grow. Succulent, prolific and very hardy....
Preparing the Ground
Before sowing, weed the area thoroughly. Spinach likes fertile, moisture-retentive soil, so dig in a couple of buckets of well-rotted manure or garden compost per square metre/yard. Firm the ground gently.
Then scatter a general fertiliser over the area at a rate of 150g (5oz) per square metre/yard. Rake this in, while also levelling the ground and removing any large stones.
Sowing
For continuous harvests, sow repeatedly every few weeks, but avoiding the hot summer months. You’ll get several pickings from each sowing as a cut and come again salad. If you’re going to cook your harvests, sow plenty, as spinach leaves reduce greatly in volume during cooking so you may need more than you expect.
Spinach is fast growing, so is useful for sowing in any short-term gaps in your veg plot, borders or patio containers. To make maximum use of space, you can also sow spinach among taller crops such as sweetcorn, which help to provide cooling shade in warm weather.
Sowing indoors
Spinach is usually best sown direct outdoors (see below), as transplanting can make it more prone to bolting (flowering prematurely). However, sowing individually in modules can help to minimise root disturbance.
Sowing outdoors
Sow spinach seeds outdoors into prepared ground (see above) – they germinate best in cool weather at the following times:
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mid- to late spring – for harvesting in late spring and summer. Avoid sowing too early in cold conditions, or sow under fleece, as early plants tend to flower prematurely (bolt). In hot weather, germination can be poor and plants tend to bolt, although flat-leaved varieties may cope better than Savoy types
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late summer to early autumn – sow hardy varieties for harvesting in autumn or early spring. Delay sowing if temperatures are still hot in late summer, to improve germination rates, but don’t leave it too late as plants need to be well established before winter weather sets in
Scatter seeds thinly in drills 2.5cm (1in) deep and 20cm (8in) apart. Or sow in large containers filled with multi-purpose compost – these should be at least 30cm (1ft) wide and deep, so the compost doesn’t dry out too rapidly. Spinach can also be sown in growing bags.
For continuous harvests, sow batches of spinach seeds every few weeks – see our guide to successional sowing.
Thinning out
Thin out spinach seedlings to 7.5cm (3in) apart when large enough to handle, removing the smaller, weaker ones. A few weeks later, harvest every alternate plant for use in salads, giving the rest more room to grow.
If growing just for baby salad leaves rather than mature plants, thinning isn’t usually necessary.
Plant Care
Spinach needs little maintenance, apart from ongoing protection from slugs and snails and regular watering to prevent drying out.
Watering
Spinach is generally a thirsty crop, so water frequently, especially in dry spells. Seedlings and young plants are particularly vulnerable to drying out, as are plants in containers, so pay close attention to these. Dry conditions interrupt growth and lead to premature flowering (bolting), and young plants in particular can quickly wilt and die in hot, dry spells.
The best time to water spinach is early in the morning, so plants don’t dry out during the day and can grow steadily. Avoid watering in the evening if possible, as damp conditions overnight can attract slugs and snails or fungal diseases such as downy mildew.
Mulching
Add a thick mulch of garden compost around the plants to help to hold moisture in the soil and deter weeds.
Weeding
Keep the site free of weeds, so young spinach seedlings don’t get overwhelmed by vigorous weeds or have to compete for water or light.
Dense weeds can also provide hiding places for pests, such as snails, and hinder air circulation, which can lead to fungal diseases such as downy mildew.
Flowering
Sooner or later, spinach will start to send up a tall flower stem and stop producing leaves. Hot, dry weather will often trigger earlier flowering (bolting), so water regularly to ensure consistent, steady growth and prolonged leaf production.
Avoid growing spinach in hot weather, or sow in light shade and water regularly.
When growing in a container, move it out of hot midday sun and water frequently, as potting compost can dry out rapidly.
Once spinach plants have started to produce a flower stalk, remove them as they won’t provide any further crops of leaves.
Winter protection
Hardy varieties for overwintering should be covered with fleece or cloches from October onwards, except in mild locations. If growing in containers, these can be moved into a greenhouse, coldframe or bright porch before cold weather sets in.
Early spring sowings should be given similar protection, to encourage germination and growth.
Harvesting
Spinach is easy to harvest as a cut and come again crop, in two ways:
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Take a few leaves from each plant along the row, making repeat pickings every few weeks until the plants eventually start to flower
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Wait until spinach plants are well established, after a couple of months, then harvest the whole crop of leaves at once, cutting just above the base. If plants have good roots, they should re-grow at least one more harvest.
Young spinach leaves are tender and tasty used raw in salads, while larger leaves are best cooked very lightly – briefly steamed, sautéed or simply wilted into a whole range of dishes, including pastas, risottos, soups and more. When using in slow-cooked dishes such as stews and curries, add right near the end to preserve the nutrients. Spinach can also be whizzed into fruit smoothies.
When cooking spinach, remember that the leaves greatly reduce in volume, so pick generous quantities.
Spinach is best used fresh, for maximum flavour and nutrients – if left, it will wilt quickly. You can store leaves in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days, if necessary. Spinach also freezes well, for use in cooking whenever needed.
Problems
Soft, nutritious young spinach leaves are enjoyed by slugs and snails. Some birds also like to eat the seedlings, but a covering of fleece should prevent this.
In hot, dry weather, spinach is prone to premature flowering (bolting), which puts an end to cropping. So keep plants well watered and choose bolt-resistant varieties, especially in warm weather.
Downy mildew may occur in warm, humid weather – thin out plants to at least 15cm (6in) apart and weed regularly to ensure good air circulation. Then choose a mildew-resistant variety for future sowings.
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