I have no problems eating spinach (in spinach pies, smoothies, salads, and stir fries), but I do have problems growing spinach. Below are tips that I recently learned might help me grow and harvest more spinach.

Sow Spinach Outdoors

Sow spinach seeds directly outdoors. Don’t start these babies indoors (I’ve wasted seed trying to do just this).

Plant Spinach Often

Sow spinach seeds every week. Yes, every week. Apparently, spinach has a short life and it’s somewhat normal for spinach to bolt quickly. Sowing spinach regularly means you can have new plants to continue harvesting from when the older plants bolt.

Plant Spinach At the Right Time 

Sow spinach in the fall and harvest the following spring. I unintentionally did this 2 years ago, not knowing the spinach would overwinter. And yes, we had spinach growing the following spring. Just not enough. So I will suggest sow lots in the fall and hopefully harvest lots the following spring.

Grow Spinach In Part Shade

Grow spinach in an area with part shade to protect the plants from the warm sun (spinach doesn’t like even a little bit of heat). This year I’m growing spinach (or hoping to) at the base of my pea and bean trellis where there’s some afternoon shade.

Use Cornmeal To Keep Pests Off Your Spinach

As soon as your spinach germinates, sprinkle coarse cornmeal at the base of the spinach plants to help keep the wood/pill/sow bugs away from them. I’ve heard these insects don’t like the coarseness of cornmeal.

Harvest Spinach Often

Harvest spinach regularly and pick spinach leaves when they’re young. The plants don’t live long, so pick the leaves while you have them.

I can’t wait to try these tips (especially that one about cornmeal) because in my dreams, I have a garden bed crowded with spinach. And in my dreams, I harvest so much spinach that I have enough to freeze large quantities so that I can later make spinach pies loaded with feta cheese. 

In my real world, I rarely get spinach seeds to germinate (and I’ve tried several varieties). And when the seeds germinate, they bolt (they flower) before I get to harvest more than 2 leaves. Or the wood bugs/pill/sow bugs (?) eat the seedlings as soon as they germinate.

Or do what I have done: If your spinach bolts quickly, leave it alone and let the plant(s) produce flowers. After flowering, the plants will produce seeds. Collect the seeds, dry them, and store them. Even if you harvest little spinach, you will get free spinach seeds.

I hope these tips will help you, too, grow and harvest more spinach.