Growing spinach for the first time this year, and the plants are doing
well. In the last couple of days, the plants have started to develop
small spikes which I presume will be flowers. Someone suggested to me
that this might be a bad thing ie that I should remove the spikes. Is
this correct?

Thanks, Will

Growing spinach for the first time this year, and the plants are doing
well. In the last couple of days, the plants have started to develop
small spikes which I presume will be flowers. Someone suggested to me
that this might be a bad thing ie that I should remove the spikes. Is
this correct?

Thanks, Will

If the spinach is running to seed it is a lost cause. Sounds like you
haven't been watering it well enough / often enough. I'd plant some more. If
you allow spinach to dry out too much, it thinks it is going to die, so it
quickly goes into flowering mode before it dies.
--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

In article , will
writes
Growing spinach for the first time this year, and the plants are doing
well. In the last couple of days, the plants have started to develop
small spikes which I presume will be flowers. Someone suggested to me
that this might be a bad thing ie that I should remove the spikes. Is
this correct?

The appearance of spikes means that your spinach is trying to develop
seed heads - i.e. bolt. That is a perfectly natural thing for the plant
to do as part of its life-cycle, but it does not help your aim of having
spinach for culinary use. Take off the spikes as they show and you can
extend the cropping life of the plant/s, but eventually nature will have
its way and your spinach will go to seed. You may have started your
spinach seed too early. If you manage your spinach carefully by sowing
seed late in each spring, you can have fresh green leaves all year
round. You could save seed from your own plants, but purchased certified
stock usually gives more reliable results.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article ,
Alan Gould wrote:
... Take off the spikes as they show and you can
extend the cropping life of the plant/s, but eventually nature will have
its way and your spinach will go to seed. You may have started your
spinach seed too early. If you manage your spinach carefully by sowing
seed late in each spring, you can have fresh green leaves all year
round. ...

Well, I have never succeeded. As the weather warms up and the air
becomes drier, the plant will stop putting out large, fleshy leaves,
whether you remove its flower spikes or no. And I have found that,
in dryish years, sowing late merely means that the spinach bolts
before it is large enough to be worth picking :-(

If you can succeed in a dryish year on sandy soil in the east, please
tell us how!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Nick Maclaren
writes
If you can succeed in a dryish year on sandy soil in the east, please
tell us how!

Sow the seed singly in 3.5in. polypots in mid to late May - keep the
seedlings growing on without any checks. Plant them out with as little
root disturbance as possible. Don't allow the leaves to become over
large before picking them. If you don't succeed with true spinach, try
leafbeet/perpetual spinach instead. We can have spinach, leafbeet and
curly kale available for fresh picking all year, but we don't need all
three nowadays, so we dispense with the spinach.

We don't have sandy soil here, we are on maritime clay over limestone.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes
If you can succeed in a dryish year on sandy soil in the east, please
tell us how!

Sow the seed singly in 3.5in. polypots in mid to late May - keep the
seedlings growing on without any checks. Plant them out with as little
root disturbance as possible. Don't allow the leaves to become over
large before picking them. If you don't succeed with true spinach, try
leafbeet/perpetual spinach instead. We can have spinach, leafbeet and
curly kale available for fresh picking all year, but we don't need all
three nowadays, so we dispense with the spinach.

We don't have sandy soil here, we are on maritime clay over limestone.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

My leafbeet/perpetual spinach is bolting (general neglect and abuse) - if I
remove flower stalks etc. will it soldier on?
i.e. is it different from 'normal' spinach and keeps growing after
flowering?

In article ,
"David W.E. Roberts" writes:
|
| My leafbeet/perpetual spinach is bolting (general neglect and abuse) - if I
| remove flower stalks etc. will it soldier on?
| i.e. is it different from 'normal' spinach and keeps growing after
| flowering?

I think that leafbeet ss Beta vulgaris, in which case it is a biennial
(not an annual like spinach), so the answer would be "No, in that
respect, it is the same."

The truly perpetual spinaches are perennials like Good King Henry.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , David W.E. Roberts
writes

My leafbeet/perpetual spinach is bolting (general neglect and abuse) - if I
remove flower stalks etc. will it soldier on?
i.e. is it different from 'normal' spinach and keeps growing after
flowering?

Once your leaf-beet begins to run to seed its productive life is drawing
to a close. Taking the flower stalks off will keep it going a little
longer but by that time you should have that following year's plants
ready to start cropping. It can be picked on a 'cut-and-come-again'
basis all through the year -- until it runs to seed that is.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

The truly perpetual spinaches are perennials like Good King Henry.

Winter and summer spinach are Chenopodiaceae in the same family as Good
King Henry, beetroot, quinoa, swiss chard, ruby chard etc. They are
perennials, best grown for cropping purposes as annuals or biennials.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article ,
Alan Gould wrote:
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

The truly perpetual spinaches are perennials like Good King Henry.

Winter and summer spinach are Chenopodiaceae in the same family as Good
King Henry, beetroot, quinoa, swiss chard, ruby chard etc. They are
perennials, best grown for cropping purposes as annuals or biennials.

Are you sure? CTW says that Beta vulgaris can be a perennial, but
my guess is that it is still monocarpic. I have never seen Spinacia
oleracea described as other than an annual.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes
If you can succeed in a dryish year on sandy soil in the east, please
tell us how!

Sow the seed singly in 3.5in. polypots in mid to late May - keep the
seedlings growing on without any checks. Plant them out with as little
root disturbance as possible. Don't allow the leaves to become over
large before picking them. If you don't succeed with true spinach, try
leafbeet/perpetual spinach instead. We can have spinach, leafbeet and
curly kale available for fresh picking all year, but we don't need all
three nowadays, so we dispense with the spinach.

We don't have sandy soil here, we are on maritime clay over limestone.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

My leafbeet/perpetual spinach is bolting (general neglect and abuse) - if I
remove flower stalks etc. will it soldier on?
i.e. is it different from 'normal' spinach and keeps growing after
flowering?

In article ,
"David W.E. Roberts" writes:
|
| My leafbeet/perpetual spinach is bolting (general neglect and abuse) - if I
| remove flower stalks etc. will it soldier on?
| i.e. is it different from 'normal' spinach and keeps growing after
| flowering?

I think that leafbeet ss Beta vulgaris, in which case it is a biennial
(not an annual like spinach), so the answer would be "No, in that
respect, it is the same."

The truly perpetual spinaches are perennials like Good King Henry.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , David W.E. Roberts
writes

My leafbeet/perpetual spinach is bolting (general neglect and abuse) - if I
remove flower stalks etc. will it soldier on?
i.e. is it different from 'normal' spinach and keeps growing after
flowering?

Once your leaf-beet begins to run to seed its productive life is drawing
to a close. Taking the flower stalks off will keep it going a little
longer but by that time you should have that following year's plants
ready to start cropping. It can be picked on a 'cut-and-come-again'
basis all through the year -- until it runs to seed that is.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

The truly perpetual spinaches are perennials like Good King Henry.

Winter and summer spinach are Chenopodiaceae in the same family as Good
King Henry, beetroot, quinoa, swiss chard, ruby chard etc. They are
perennials, best grown for cropping purposes as annuals or biennials.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article ,
Alan Gould wrote:
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

The truly perpetual spinaches are perennials like Good King Henry.

Winter and summer spinach are Chenopodiaceae in the same family as Good
King Henry, beetroot, quinoa, swiss chard, ruby chard etc. They are
perennials, best grown for cropping purposes as annuals or biennials.

Are you sure? CTW says that Beta vulgaris can be a perennial, but
my guess is that it is still monocarpic. I have never seen Spinacia
oleracea described as other than an annual.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.