If you have a nice little bed for greens on your homestead (like many of us!), you’re probably finding out that spinach can be a very finicky, hard to grow plant.
I’m going to guess that you either lost your entire spinach harvest last year due to bolting, or you are currently dealing with bolting spinach at this moment.
Welcome to Spinach 101: Spinach-1, Homesteader-0.
Bolt resistant spinach is the next line of defense, and you will need to be very careful about WHEN you plant your Spinach.
Spinach bolts; you just have to cater to its needs diligently, and plant the right variety at the right time.
Bolt Resistant Spinach
Bolt resistant spinach is able to last a bit longer before bolting. It is not necessarily a heat tolerant spinach; it’s just slower to bolt.
The varieties listed will give you a bit more leeway when it comes to growing your own spinach leaves, but you must still keep the plants moist and cool while growing.
With these, they will need more days of warmer temperatures to begin to bolt (if they bolt, that is!).
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- New Zealand Spinach: This is not a true spinach, as it is a different species. However, it’s an excellent substitute and will grow straight through the heat of summer! At only 60 days, it is a little bit longer to harvest (versus 45 days for some spinach varieties); however, a slower harvest is better than a bolted plant! In addition, this plant (New Zealand Spinach) does not tolerate a frost. Regular spinach can and will handle cold temperatures and frost, while New Zealand is a heat tolerant spinach that’ll provide your family with salads all summer-long.
- Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach: For this true spinach variety, bolting is still very likely as the hotter late spring temperatures take hold. This long standing spinach simply resists bolting, which means it will outlast many of the varieties that are not long standing. It is wonderfully suited for climates with only mild growing seasons. If you encounter steady temperatures in the 80’s, you will likely find your spinach bolting as the warm days continue.
- Red Malabar Spinach: This is yet another substitution species for traditional spinach, and it loves the heat. This “spinach” is a vining plant, and will provide you with tons of greens for both fresh eating and cooking. Many people prefer this variety cooked. This Asian vine will do very well for those who do not have enough of a cool growing season for spinach to grow successfully. It will outdo the most bolt resistant spinach varieties in hot regions.
- Strawberry Spinach: Another great substitute with a perk; it produces berries! This easy to grow plant is a great stand in if you simply can’t grow spinach, as it will not bolt. The berries have a unique, sweet flavor, and the vine makes an incredible addition to gardens that treasure ancient edible plants. This plant has been cultivated by people for over 400 years, making it one of the older heirloom plants.
- Amsterdam Prickly Seeded Spinach: This intriguing spinach variety has been cultivated for a few hundred years, and is much slower to bolt than most spinach. However, it is a very hardy spinach that powers through the winter, providing fresh greens during the cold months. It is known for it’s very low germination rate, so stock up on seeds. What it lacks in germination, it makes up for in reliability and durability throughout the colder months. It will bolt in extreme heat, but it will still outlast most other varieties.
When to Plant Bolt Resistant Spinach & Regular Spinach
If you have chosen to grow either bolt resistant or regular spinach, your best defense against bolting is properly timed planting. You want the spinach plants to have an opportunity to grow with plenty of sunlight, but you don’t want them to have enough time to bolt before harvest.
Fall is one of the best times to plant standard spinach, and plants can be protected with growing tunnels, green houses, cold frames, and DIY bottle greenhouses. Spinach can handle cold temperatures and freezes, but it will need some protection from heavy winter precipitation and wind. It will not bolt through cooler temperatures, but it may be slow to germinate or grow during the depth of winter. If planted a few weeks before frost, you could harvest spinach all throughout winter and spring.
If you have at least 60 days of spring weather that doesn’t reach into the 80s for a length of time, you may be able to tackle spring-sowed spinach. Sowing spinach in spring can be trickier than a fall sowing, as the spinach has less time to reach maturity. In addition, the older the plants get, the longer the days are and the higher the temperatures soar; when a plant is nearing maturity, it’s a prime time to bolt. Try mulching spinach with old wet hay in order to keep the spinach as cool as possible, as it will help to delay bolting. This is where the bolt resistant varieties come in; they may last a few weeks longer, allowing you to harvest more spinach before it flowers and produces seeds.
When to Plant Heat Tolerant Spinach Varieties
If you opt for the more heat tolerant spinach varieties that are on the market (or the spinach substitutes), you’ll find that you have much more room for error during the growing season. Most of the heat tolerant varieties will not bolt; however, you must be ready for anything when you’re growing spinach!
Sow your seeds shortly after the last frost date, paying close attention to the needs of the spinach substitutions; some may need to be planted 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost date.
For the spinach substitutes, you’ll find that most of them do not possess those wonderful, cold-hardy traits of the beloved traditional spinach. While traditional spinach will stand tall and crisp while a heavy frost rests upon its leaves, many of the stand-ins will wilt, completely throwing in the towel when it comes to survival. If you are in a cooler growing zone, it might be best to stick with traditional spinach.
Spinach Seeds Germination
Once you plant your seeds and moisten them with water, you could be in for a waiting game. Some spinach seeds germinate poorly, so you may have to over-sow your spinach to account for poor germination. This will help you to achieve a full bed of spinach. You should see seedlings within 2 weeks, and germination may be a bit slower due to cold weather, dry soil, or deep sowing. Older seeds will have a harder time germinating, as well; so be sure that you plant fresh seed. You can always soak spinach seeds overnight to encourage a better germination rate if you are using older or limited amounts of seeds.
Can You Eat Bolted Spinach?
Spinach is usually known for its tender, mild tasting leaves. It is very nutritious, yet high in oxalates; therefore, it should be eaten in moderation. If your spinach begins to bolt, you might be tempted to eat all of it quickly… but can you eat bolted spinach??? Absolutely! That is, if you don’t mind some bitterness! As the plant bolts the leaves will become quite bitter. If you catch the spinach just as it starts to bolt, you can usually save the spinach before it develops a bitter flavor. You should check on your spinach twice daily to catch bolting plants before they become too bitter to be palatable for the family.
What to Do With Bolted Spinach: How to Harvest Spinach Seeds
So, your spinach has bolted, you didn’t catch it in time, and now you need a use for it… why not use this as an opportunity to collect seeds? Each plant could yield lots of seeds for you, so it’s important to see this as both a very important lesson in growing spinach, and an opportunity for a very different, valuable type of harvest: the seeds that will give rise to the next generation! You could plant the seeds from the spinach plant that is last to bolt, and continue raising its progeny year after year, helping to breed a spinach variety that bolts slower in your region.
So, what to do with bolted spinach? Simply protect those flower heads! Some critters would love to eat your spinach seeds as they mature, so be sure that nothing will harm them. What you do with the delicate flowering plants will directly affect your seed harvest. Be sure that the plants are well fed and watered through this energy-intensive process.
Learning how to harvest spinach seeds at the right time can be a little tricky. You don’t want to harvest too early, as the seed will not be mature; on the flip side, you don’t want them becoming lunch! You must wait for the plant to turn brown and dry out in order to ensure that the seed is mature and dry. Once it has dried, you can remove the spinach seeds from the pockets along the flowering stem of the plant. You could then stratify seeds in an effort the prepare them for fall planting quickly.
If you are storing the seeds, be sure to store them in a cool, dark, dry place. Dry-stratifying them before storage is a wonderful idea, as it will help encourage germination during the spring without the need for repeating the process. I recommend stratifying most seeds, or simply storing them indefinitely in the freezer. This not only mimics a natural winter cycle; it also preserves the seeds far more effectively for us!
Would like some homestead spinach seeds,thank you