Features of growing spinach from seeds: soil preparation, planting and caring for greens. Spinach: features of growing from seeds

Cultivation of spinach has become popular in our country not so long ago, but, in a very short period, planting it appeared in every second greenhouse. The demand for this culture is growing every day, which means that it will not hurt us to learn how to grow it in the country.

Along with other herbs such as parsley, dill and lettuce, spinach can be grown in a greenhouse or open ground, it all depends only on your own desire and the amount of greenery that is needed. Unusual green vegetable crop can be used for business or only for own consumption - in salads, fries, sauces, canned.

How useful is the plant

Many of us have repeatedly heard about the beneficial properties of the culture and that the plant is overflowing with the content of biologically active substances. It turns out that eating spinach, even small portions, we get a lot of elements useful for the body. This is exactly what can be considered another reason to grow it in the country.

Culture preserves beneficial features in any form, although their concentration varies slightly. Thus, all vitamins and other substances are found in raw, boiled, canned and even frozen spinach. In addition to the high content of carotene and ascorbic acid, the plant contains oxalic acid, oleic acid, linolenic acid, manganese, phosphorus, calcium, iodine, copper, iron, sodium, a lot of potassium and vitamins of groups B, P, PP, E, K.

Experts working on the study of the properties of spinach noted that its juice is useful for anemia, to increase appetite, normalize the processes of the digestive tract, and can also restore and strengthen the nervous system.

But, there are also caveats - the product should not be abused in adulthood, at baby food, with diseases of the kidneys and liver.

Growing spinach

If, after reading the previous paragraph, you understand how important this plant product can be in nutrition, you will be interested to know how to grow this crop in your own garden or in a small greenhouse in the country.

Choosing the soil

The best way Fertile and organic-rich, well-drained soil is suitable for growing spinach. It is preferable to grow a crop on sandy loam or loam. An important point the quality of the plant is also acidity, where the optimal indicator is in the region of pH 6.7-7.0. If you plant it in highly acidic soil, you risk losing your plants. Heavy soils for spinach require organic matter, limed or calcareous soils are not good enough, since they do not have the required level of iron.

Fertilizer for culture

Potash and phosphorus fertilizers, as well as 6-7 kg of humus or well-rotted manure for each square meter of future planting, have been introduced into high-quality, fertile soil since autumn. It is recommended to apply fertilizers when digging the soil.

In areas without black soil mineral fertilizers applied immediately before sowing the culture: 10-13 g of potassium, 5-6 g of phosphorus and about 10 g of nitrogen. This additive dosage is calculated for 1 m2.

It is worth noting that you should be extremely careful with fertilizing, since spinach leaves accumulate nitrates very well. Thus, nitrogen is introduced into the soil only when absolutely necessary.

Sowing plants

Most often, it is the growing of spinach from seeds that occurs, and therefore, now we will talk about this way in details.

For garden spinach, the soil is prepared in advance, in autumn period... During the excavation of the soil, certain fertilizers are introduced into it - potash, phosphorus, compost. Also, you can add a third of the standard dose of nitrogen to the soil. In the spring, before planting, the site is cultivated for sowing and the rest of the nitrogen dose is applied.

Sowing takes place in several stages, so you can get fresh greens in the season longer and without interruption. Closer to autumn, at the end of August or even in the first half of September, the culture is sown in the ground. This is done in order to get greens in early spring.

The spinach planted in early autumn will show the first rosette of leaves even before the onset of frost, then it will overwinter, and already 12-15 days after the spring snow melts, you can enjoy the first fruits of your work.

Before planting, the seeds must be properly prepared so that they give good shoots... Soaking for several hours will not be enough, since the seeds do not absorb moisture well. For preparation, use warm water, about + 25 ° C, and also practice bubbling. After two days in water, the seeds are dried so that they regain their initial flowability, and are sown in the ground.

There are several sowing methods - in ridges and in rows. The first is used if the soil on the site is heavy, the second is used for any other soil. Seeds are planted to a shallow depth, about 2-3 cm, and a distance of 25-30 cm is observed between the rows of future greenery.

Plant care

First of all, you need to monitor the seedlings and take care of them. They should be clean, and should not be interfered with by weeds or excessive thickening. Water the plants on time, this will help to avoid stem stemming. Basically, try to keep the soil from drying out in hot weather.

During the growing season, you can also apply top dressing, immediately after rain or simply during watering. After that, it will be necessary to loosen the soil. For the entire period of spinach growth, you need to do at least 2-3 weeding and light loosening of the row spacing, also, do not forget to remove new shoots that make the planting dense and unproductive, as well as weak male plants.

Harvesting

Grown spinach can be harvested from the garden or garden in the 6-8 leaf phase. Maximum term harvesting - the growth of peduncles. Greens can be mowed or cut, but many uproot the plant ... here at your own discretion.

Leaves can be stored for almost a week, during this period they must be prepared or immediately eaten. If longer storage is required, freeze can be used.

What varieties to choose for giving

We know a few really good varieties, which summer residents most often choose for growing on their own plots:

• Victoria,
• Godry,
• Virofle,
• Gigantic,
• Fatty,
• Matador,
• Strawberry.

You can choose any of them for growing in the country or at home. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the material about.

Spinach growing videos

Question answer

• How different growing spinach is Strawberry or Matador from Standard, Garden Spinach... There are practically no differences, especially when it comes to the technology of growing greens and caring for them. These varieties differ in the growing season, the shape and size of the leaves, taste;
• Is it possible to grow spinach on a windowsill? If you are interested in growing a crop at home, you can follow the advice given in our article, install several boxes or other containers with fertile soil on the balcony or windowsill, prepare and sow seeds. The result will not be long in coming, of course, with appropriate care;
• How is growing spinach in a greenhouse different from growing at home? Everything is simple here - speed and quantity. In a greenhouse, under certain conditions, spinach will grow faster and better, and in a greenhouse you will not have to limit yourself in the amount of greenery that needs to be grown.

Garden spinach (Spinacia oleracea) - annual herbaceous plant of the Amaranth family. Spinach is a great source of iron. This element is required to maintain a normal level of hemoglobin, which supplies oxygen to all cells of the body, is part of the system responsible for energy production and metabolism. Spinach is especially recommended for children, adolescents and women.

Homeland of spinach

Native to spinach from the Middle East. It is believed that the cultivation began in Persia. In Central Asia, it grows like a weed. Translated from Persian, the name of the plant means "green hand".

As a vegetable plant, spinach is cultivated everywhere. V Western countries was extremely popular at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, spinach was considered the richest in iron food: 35 mg of iron per 100 g of weight. The confusion arose because the researcher did not put a decimal point in the number - in fact, fresh spinach contains 10 times less iron. The refutation did not appear until 1981.

Botanical description

Spinach - annual plant... Its leaves are triangular-lance-shaped, gather in a dense basal rosette, their length is 30-45 cm. It blooms in the summer months. Small staminate green flowers gather in a paniculate inflorescence, pistillate ones are located in the axils of the leaves, forming glomeruli. The fruit is oval-shaped nuts.

Preparing a site for planting spinach

Seat selection

Spinach on a cultivated plot enriched organic matter... The culture is demanding on soil fertility. Gives rich harvests on sandy loam and loamy soils.

As a rule, no special areas are allocated for sowing spinach. In spring, it is grown as a precursor to late thermophilic crops. Can be sown as a compactor (in the aisles of the garden and among other vegetables) in small areas.

Fertilizing the earth

For digging in the fall, fertilizers should be applied: for 1 m², 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride. If the soil is acidic, liming is necessary. In early spring, as soon as possible soil cultivation, add 20 g of urea per 1 m² under the rake. For sowing, humus or rotted manure should be applied. It is especially important to introduce humus when thickened and early plantings... Fresh organic matter (slurry, manure, etc.) is not recommended to be applied directly under the crop.

Growing in greenhouses, greenhouses, good harvest can be obtained on soils with a significant amount of humus. Prepare a mixture of vegetable garden, turf land and humus in equal proportions.

Dates of sowing spinach in the ground

• For growing spinach in a greenhouse or warm greenhouse start sowing from the end of February.
• Spinach is a fairly cold-resistant crop - its seedlings can withstand temperatures as low as -8 ° C.
• Boldly sow before winter(End of october). The seeds overwinter successfully under snow cover.
• In the spring start sowing when the snow has completely melted. You can do conveyor crops at intervals of 20-30 days in order to regularly receive fresh greens.
• For autumn harvest harvest sow in June-July, in the southern regions - in August.

Pre-moisten the area well. To help the seeds germinate quickly and well, cover the crops with a rag (old blanket, sheet, etc.). In regions where winter temperature air does not fall below +12 ° C, you can freely harvest throughout the winter.

Growing spinach from seed in a greenhouse

To obtain early and friendly shoots, the seeds must be processed before. Soak them for a day in warm water, then dry to a state of flowability, proceed to sowing.

• When sowing in a greenhouse, you will need 20-30 g of seeds per 1 m².
• Keep a distance of 20-30 cm between rows.
• Cover to a depth of 1-2 cm. For germination, keep the air temperature between 10-12 ° C in cloudy weather, 18 ° C on sunny days.
• When shoots appear, weeding and thinning are carried out several times, leaving 15-20 cm between the plants.

The greenhouse must be ventilated on warm days, preventing the air temperature from rising above 24 ° C, so that delicate greens do not receive thermal burns. When the air temperature during the day exceeds 12 ° C, the film can be removed for a day.

Planting spinach seeds outdoors

• In the open field, sow spinach on the ridges, maintaining a distance between rows of 30-40 cm.
• Sow 4-5 g of seeds per 1 m².
• The seeding depth is 1-2 cm. After sowing, close the ridges with a rake.
• When the spinach sprouts, be sure to thin out the seedlings to 5-6 cm between the plants.
• Thin the spinach as it grows, using the excess plants for food.

How to care for spinach outdoors

Thinning

With the appearance of the second true leaflet, it should be thinned out. After several thinning in a row, leave the bushes at a distance of at least 10-15 cm. When the plantings are thickened, poor aeration, which provokes powdery mildew damage. Water the spinach liberally after thinning.

Watering

Provide regular. It is enough 2-3 times a week to add 3 liters of water for each running meter... In dry, hot weather, water abundantly to prevent premature stems.

Top dressing

If spinach grows poorly, add nitrogen fertilizer along with watering (10-15 g of urea per 1 m²). Potash and phosphorus fertilizers are not recommended: the shooting process is accelerated.

Growing spinach from seeds at home for seedlings

Spinach is grown at home in order to obtain early seedlings or vitamin greens all year round... Let's take a look at both methods.

Growing spinach from seed for seedlings

When to sow spinach for seedlings?

Spinach is a very early ripening crop, its greens are ready for harvesting in 3-4 weeks after germination. Therefore, you need to accurately calculate the time until the moment, so as not to be mistaken. The timing of planting spinach also depends on the selected variety, since the ripening time for each variety is different.

On average, we leave 1-1.5 weeks for the emergence of seedlings and 2 weeks for growing seedlings. In general, we begin sowing for seedlings about 3-4 weeks before planting on permanent place cultivation.

How to sow

Spinach growing from seeds for seedlings at home photo seedlings

The spinach seeds are large enough that you can easily plant them one at a time in the cassette slots. The soil can be taken universal for seedlings.

• Embedding depth 1 cm.
• After planting, the earth is moistened with a spray gun, covered with a film.
• Germinate your seeds at room temperature.
• How much spinach comes out? The first shoots will appear on the 8-10th day. After that, the film must be removed, and the temperature of the content is slightly lowered so that the seedlings do not stretch out. It's good if you keep it around 18 ° C.
• Seedlings need long daylight hours with good diffused lighting.
• When the plants become cramped in the cells of the cassette, you need to transfer the seedlings to peat pots.

Before planting, they are hardened for 7-10 days. Spinach is planted at a distance of 10-15 cm in a row, between rows 30-40 cm.

Growing spinach from seeds on a windowsill

To plant spinach on the windowsill with seeds for growing on greens, you can use any containers convenient for you, the main thing is that their height is at least 15 cm: these can be pots or seedling boxes, necessarily with drain holes in the day. Use a loose, nutritious soil, a universal soil mixture for seedlings is quite suitable.

• Plant the seeds less frequently, 5-6 cm apart. Later you will thin them out to a distance of 8-10 cm.
• Embedding depth 1 cm.
• After planting, we use a spray gun, cover with a film until shoots appear, after which we remove the shelter.
• Further care is extremely simple: watering as the soil dries up and diffused bright lighting for at least 10 hours. If the daylight hours are short, you need to illuminate with phytolamps.

Harvesting spinach

After that, you can start harvesting spinach after 30-40 days of growth, after the summer - after 40-50 days. It is important not to miss a moment: if the spinach overgrows, the leaves will become rough and tasteless. Harvesting can begin as soon as 5-6 leaves appear. Cut the rosettes under the first leaf or pull out by the roots. It is better to harvest in the morning, but not immediately after rain or watering - the leaves are very fragile, they break easily.

As it grows, new leaves appear that can be harvested until the onset of mass shooting.

From 1 m², you can harvest 1.5-2 kg of the crop.

Spinach can be transported and stored exclusively in dry form. V plastic bag on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, spinach stays fresh for about 2 days. It can be frozen - its beneficial properties are not lost when frozen.

Diseases and pests of spinach

It is undesirable to spray leafy vegetables with pesticides, so it is better to take preventive measures. Observe agricultural techniques, harvest on time.

When thickened, it is possible to be affected by powdery mildew and various spots.

Seedlings and young plants can infect root rot: the neck rots, the plant withers and dies. Be sure to thin out the seedlings, loosen the soil.

Succulent spinach leaves attract aphids, slugs, snails, and larvae of the miner beet moth willingly settle on them. Do not grow spinach next to beets. Collect gastropods by hand.

Benefits of spinach

Spinach is rich not only in iron, but also in a whole set nutrients, vitamins. Leaves contain fats, proteins, sugars, fiber, organic acids, flavanoids, magnesium, potassium, vitamins C, B, E, K, A, PP.

The high content of folic acid makes spinach very useful for pregnant women, it is given to young children in the form of puree to prevent rickets. Eating spinach in food contributes to the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases, stimulates the intestines, has a mild laxative effect, prevents retinal degeneration, is useful for diabetes mellitus, anemia, anemia.

Swiss professor Gustav von Bunge investigated dry spinach in 1890. His calculations were correct (35 mg iron per 100 g dry product), but it is possible this information was misunderstood, which also contributed to confusion and ambiguity in evaluating the health benefits of spinach.

Spinach is a healthy and low-calorie vegetable crop. Growing spinach from seeds is the key to a rich harvest of deciduous crops. Planting spinach in open ground is carried out according to certain rules, observing which you can achieve excellent results and a generous harvest.

This culture combines the main characteristics for the gardener-gardener: a healthy and tasty leafy vegetable, while completely unpretentious in care. Prepare the soil before planting the plant.

In order to grow this vegetable, it is not necessary to cook and extract large space Location on. The smallest area will be enough for plants; for these purposes, a flower bed in the garden, which spinach will decorate with its dark green foliage, may well be suitable.

For successful cultivation and abundant fruiting spinach leafy greenery, you need an enriched and loose soil. And the main condition for favorable cultivation is considered high level air and water permeability of the soil.

Loamy soil is considered fertile for planting, while a dense mixture with an earthen crust is absolutely unsuitable for growing a spinach culture. The acidity of the earth is one of important factors affecting the volume of the vegetable harvest.

The best indicator is a neutral acidity level. potting soil... In the spring, before planting, the site is cultivated for sowing crops.

If we talk about the history of the site where it is planned to plant seeds of leafy greenery, then the following are considered favorable predecessors: cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus, beans, lentils. For planting a leafy vegetable, it is necessary to allocate an area with abundant access to sunlight.

Seeding video

From the video you will learn how to sow spinach.

Fertilizing spinach

Since spinach ripens quickly, fertilizers that will be used for feeding should be effective and fast. For these purposes, at the beginning of March, urea in granules should be scattered over the area chosen for planting the culture.

The next step in fertilizing the land will be to add humus to the area where the seeds are to be planted.

There is also a method autumn preparation a plot for growing spinach in the open field, which is used by many gardeners. To do this, in the fall, potash and phosphorus fertilizers are distributed over the surface of the site, together with humus or rotted manure, for each square meter the future site for sowing. This land enrichment is carried out with simultaneous digging of soil.

If the leafy vegetable will be planted in an area that does not contain black soil. Before sowing, the following mineral fertilizers should be applied: 15 g of potassium, 7 g of phosphorus, 10 g of nitrogen. The dosage of the components is calculated per 1 m2. Considering that spinach leaves tend to accumulate nitrates, it is not worth using nitrogen-containing fertilizers in the spring.

Sowing spinach

How to grow spinach in your vegetable garden? Most often it is grown from seeds. Before planting spinach, prepare its seeds for planting. And this must be done correctly, otherwise you may not wait for the long-awaited shoots.

The seeds are soaked for several days in warm water, after which they are soaked, dried and sown on the site. Sow the culture either in beds or in rows. The first option is optimal for planting on an area with heavy, dense soil, and the second for more airy and favorable soil.

The planting material of spinach (seeds) is deepened 2.5-3.5 cm deep into the soil, leaving the row spacing at a level of 30 cm.

Since spinach is a cold-resistant culture, it is advisable to start the first crops immediately after the snow melts, that is, it is already possible even at a temperature of +4 ° С. Under these conditions, the seeds germinate quite successfully.

The method of growing spinach is identical with radishes, so very often these plants grow with each other.

At best development events, the first harvest from young leaves will actually be collected after 30-40 days from the first sprouts pecking.

Planting of spinach is carried out from mid-April to mid-May, but of course it all depends on the climate and geographic location of the region.

If we take into account the plant's need for moisture, then late planting, in dry soil, will not bring the desired results. Heat and dry weather are contraindicated for this culture. For this purpose, the principle is used the sooner the better.

When the soil for sowing is ready, in order to obtain a constant harvest, the plant is planted at the end of August. In this case, you can enjoy the first leaves in the spring.

A plant planted before the onset of the first frost, as a rule, will hatch the first shoots at speed. Then the plant overwinters safely, and when the spring snow melts, in two weeks, it will be possible to harvest a full harvest from fresh, green, juicy leaves.

September crops will sprout this year and will overwinter practically without problems. With the arrival of spring, they will thaw and begin to grow intensively. When planted in October, green petals will ripen in mid-autumn. To ensure a harvest within six months - from spring to autumn, it is necessary to select the optimal varieties and sow seeds from time to time.

Spinach care

In order for the plant to develop correctly, and the vegetation process to proceed harmoniously, and nothing bothers it, you should take care of spinach in the open field, competently and competently. You need to start caring for planted leafy vegetables by thinning the rows and beds on which the culture grows.

Thinning takes place by removing excess, weaker seedlings, thus leaving a distance of 8-10 cm in the phase of two true leaves. Seedlings should be tried to thin out as early as possible, since they can bloom quickly in thickened rows, and all the plant's strength will go to the formation of flowers first, and then seeds.

When the plants begin to come into contact with each other, a second thinning is carried out, leaving gaps of 15 cm. The removed plants can be eaten. The culture during the growth period also needs fertilizing with ammonium nitrate, which is produced at the rate (10-25 g per 1 m2).

The next step in the care is to clean the area from weeds and irrigate the soil. During periods of drought, watering is essential. Also spinach is extremely susceptible to lack of moisture, being at the stage of seed pecking and after the leaves have formed. Regular, timely watering prevents the formation of arrows on the shoots.

In order to obtain big harvest spinach, on top leaves adult plants are pinched, which will stimulate the vegetation of new shoots. The soil between the rows needs periodic loosening. In order to protect leafy vegetables from ailments such as: false powdery mildew, leaf aphids, beet jaundice, you need to understand that these lesions contribute wet weather.

The leaves of the culture are affected by the beet nematode, a common ailment with beets. In order to prevent such a misfortune, procedures are performed to combat aphids and isolation from the host plants of the disease, beets in this case.

Harvesting

Harvesting can begin if the leaves are the right size, that is, when 4-6 leaves are formed on the culture. Young and fragile leaves are removed first. Thus, the constant collection stimulates the growth of new shoots.

Summer varieties remove up to half of the leaves, while winter ones are collected carefully, since they are very fragile, and they are removed by hand.

For eating, you need large shoots of spinach, which do not yet have stems.

You can harvest the entire crop at once or in part by plucking the leaves as they form, in which case the collection of the leaves will last for weeks.

With spinach leaves, you should be extremely careful, do not tear, but slightly break off so as not to uproot the plant.

In the conditions of a leafy vegetable densely planted in a garden bed, when its rosettes are cramped, young seedlings are plucked, thus thinning is carried out. Young plants are quite edible.

The best time to harvest spinach is in the morning or evening, while plucked leaves during the day can quickly wither and become lethargic. Harvesting spinach in the rain is not recommended, wet leaves may start to rot.

If a lot of spinach has grown or there is a need to free up an area for planting other vegetables, root crops, then it is plucked along with the root, folding it into the container with the roots down.

The root of the plant is washed (water should not get on the leaves), blot it with a napkin.

Spinach is stored in the refrigerator in polyethylene or in a plastic container for no more than a day.

It is not worth wetting and washing the leaves before placing them in the chamber, this will shorten their storage time.

When transporting crops over long distances, ice is placed in containers with leaves.

Spinach leaves are best eaten in fresh, immediately after cleaning.

The plant contains many useful components: fiber, organic acids, a balanced multivitamin complex: vitamins A, C, B, folic acid, high content of vitamin E, minerals- iron, potassium, magnesium.

The use of leaves has a beneficial effect on the body in order to prevent gastrointestinal diseases, anemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension. Fiber of the leaves enhances intestinal peristalsis, improves digestion, etc.

The leafy vegetable spinach, unfortunately, does not keep fresh for long. And in order to use such green shoots valuable for the human body in winter, they are dried, canned, frozen.

Video "Leaving"

Learn how to care for spinach in the video.

Spinach is a frost-resistant, fast-growing plant, a relative of beets and chard. Spinach can be planted in either spring or fall, or both spring and fall if you want to harvest twice a year. Spinach tastes good both raw and cooked and is high in iron, calcium, antioxidants and essential vitamins like A, B and C. Read this step by step instructions, you will learn how to properly grow your own spinach crop.

Steps

Variety selection

Grow spinach in cool climates. Spinach is exceptionally hardy and thrives in cold to temperate climates. This plant, which prefers cool conditions, loves temperatures from 1 to 23 ° C.

Choose Savoy and Semi-Savoy for fall planting. The Savoyard variety is characterized by dark green wrinkled leaves. This spinach is best planted in the fall because it becomes very brittle in cold weather.

Choose smooth-leaved spinach if you want to harvest quickly. Glacial spinach grows tall and has paler leaves than Savoy spinach. It grows quickly and easily, making it the perfect addition to any summer salad.

Site preparation for planting

1. Choose an area with full sun. Although spinach prefers a mild climate and will not do well with very high temperature, he loves anyway sunlight... The spinach will grow in the shade, but the yield will not be as impressive and the plant as productive as if it were growing in the sun.

   Make sure the soil drains well. Spinach enjoys a mild, humid climate, but will feel bad on soils that are regularly flooded and not drained. If you cannot find suitable site in your garden, you can make a raised bed or plant your spinach in a pot.

   • If you are making a raised bed, use cedar boards as material, if possible. Cedar wood does not rot when exposed to water.
   • Since spinach is a small plant that doesn’t grow long roots, you don’t need a lot of space to grow it.

Spinach care

Thin plants. Once your spinach sprouts have grown to seedling condition, thin them out a little to prevent competition for space between them. You should thin out the plants so that the leaves of neighboring plants barely touch each other. This spatial balance needs to be achieved, even if you have to pluck out some of the plants.

Few people know how to grow spinach in the garden, how to cook it deliciously, how useful it is. The spinach culture is popular in many countries. V Western Europe even produce harvesters for harvesting it. In Japan, with an acute shortage of cultivated areas for spinach, up to 24 thousand hectares are allotted, that is, 2-2.5 square meters. m per person. And here in the Krasnodar Territory, judging by the number of sold seeds, its sowing in open ground is no more than 2-3 hectares per 5 million inhabitants of the Kuban, that is, 0.02-0.03 square meters. m per person. Most likely, this is from not knowing what kind of culture it is, how and when to plant spinach.

Nutritionists, nutritionists believe that it should be consumed at least 3-4 kg per year, which is used not only as a salad, but also as a medicinal plant.

Spinach as a useful plant

Garden spinach is an annual plant. They eat fleshy leaves, sometimes they are corrugated, have an ovoid, rounded or arrow-shaped shape. This is a dioecious plant, and females are more leafy, vegetate longer than males. In terms of the amount of protein contained, spinach is second only to legumes (peas, beans). Its leaves contain sugars, vitamins C (65-75 mg%), groups B, P, PP, K, E, A, various organic acids, salts of potassium, calcium, sodium, iron, copper, phosphorus, and other useful substances.

Spinach leaves hatch harmful substances from the body, such as toxins, salts heavy metals, cholesterol. The French call it "the stomach broom" because it has a positive effect on the activity of the digestive glands, forcing them to work more intensively. In addition, spinach, due to its saponin content, enhances gastric motility.

When to sow spinach in open ground in the Kuban

It is a cold-resistant plant. And in dry, hot weather, forming 4-6 leaves small size, begin to shoot, becomes unfit for human consumption. Therefore, the late spring sowing of spinach in our Krasnodar Territory should not be practiced.

In conditions short day when sowing is carried out in early spring ("February windows") or in autumn (September), the light stage of development passes slowly, the duration of the vegetative phase increases. As a result, a powerful rosette of 10-12 large leaves is formed, which leads to an increase in yield up to 3.5-4 kg per 1 sq. m.

Spinach seeds, although slowly, can germinate outdoors at temperatures of + 3-4 ° C. But optimum temperature both for germination and for its growth and development is 15-18 ° C. In the phase of a rosette of 4-6 leaves, it easily tolerates frosts down to -17 ° C, and even lower under snow. For example, in winter 2002/2003, the temperature at night in December-January on some days dropped to 18-20 ° С frost, and without snow. At this temperature, they remained to grow, 53-56% of the plants survived, which gave an early harvest.

Experts-agronomists have studied several dates for sowing spinach: late summer (second-third decade of August) and autumn (three dates in September and first-second decade of October). Observations of growth and development showed that sowing in August and in the first or second decade of September allows you to get a yield of spinach leaves in October-November of 3.5-3.7 kg per 1 sq. m.

In some years, with a warm autumn, spinach yielded even in December, if you place arcs of 6-8 mm wire for sowing, cover them plastic wrap... Sowings of the second or third ten days of September, sometimes the first ten days of October, endured the winter well in the central zone of Krasnodar Territory. The temperature in winter for the previous 3 years did not fall below 10-12 ° С of frost. A crop of spinach leaves from sowing in mid-September was ready for harvest in the first decade of March. Each subsequent sowing period yielded a harvest 5-7 days later than the previous one. The early spring sowing period in February-March yielded crops in the first or second decade of May. The yield from the early spring sowing period was 1.3-1.7 kg per sq. m.

Thus, for the conveyor belt harvest of spinach in the Kuban in late autumn or early spring, it is necessary to plant it, or rather, to carry out staged sowing from about August 15 to mid-October with an interval of 10-15 days.

Increasingly, I see green spinach leaves on the market counters. This makes me happy. But before growing spinach in industrial scale still far. It's a pity!