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#1
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Spinach experts?
Anyone experience of growing spincah in the South of the UK ?
Can i grow it in the winter in a cold frame or a greenhouse ? |
#2
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Spinach experts?
On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 00:15:34 +0000 (UTC), bnd777 wrote:
Anyone experience of growing spincah in the South of the UK ? Can i grow it in the winter in a cold frame or a greenhouse ? I don't have any experince of growing it in the winter but I know it doesn't like hot weather very much, so you might get away with it. You can grow it as a green manure in October, so I suppose it'll be ok in a greenhouse. -- Tim. If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. |
#3
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Spinach experts?
In article , "bnd777" writes: | Anyone experience of growing spincah in the South of the UK ? | | Can i grow it in the winter in a cold frame or a greenhouse ? Effectively, no. No light. You can't grow ANYTHING here in the depths of winter, at least not effectively. What you can do is to start it off in (say) February. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#4
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Spinach experts?
In message , Nick Maclaren
writes In article , "bnd777" writes: | Anyone experience of growing spincah in the South of the UK ? | | Can i grow it in the winter in a cold frame or a greenhouse ? Effectively, no. No light. You can't grow ANYTHING here in the depths of winter, at least not effectively. What you can do is to start it off in (say) February. That seems to me a bit defeatist. Just because things grow slowly now doesn't mean they're not worth growing at all, particularly if you can give them some protection. This year and last, gardening in a frost pocket in North London (it was -6 here last night), I've picked salad and other leaves - including spinach - right through the winter months, both in the open and under plastic or fleece. Where I would agree with Nick is that things don't get started very well at this time of year - seedlings seem to need a lot more light than is available now - so in my experience it's best to sow in August and early September. On spinach specifically, last year I grew Giant Winter, Viroflay and Samish, all sown in the open in late August/early September. Samish and Viroflay were under fleece from mid October, Giant Winter in the open. I got quite a lot of "baby" leaves from the Samish, but not much from Viroflay, which went a bit yellow - I felt it didn't like being under fleece, which obviously does cut down the light. The best by far was Giant Winter, but that didn't really start producing much until April. This year I meant to get them all in earlier but didn't quite manage it. So far I've had several small pickings of Samish from a 1 metre row sown on Aug 23rd and about 2 meals' worth from 2 metres of Giant Winter sown on Sept 7th, this year both covered with fleece when frost has threatened but otherwise in the open. -- Max Wright www.wys-systems.demon.co.uk/plotcrop |
#5
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Spinach experts?
In article , Max Wright writes: | | That seems to me a bit defeatist. Just because things grow slowly now | doesn't mean they're not worth growing at all, particularly if you can | give them some protection. This year and last, gardening in a frost | pocket in North London (it was -6 here last night), I've picked salad | and other leaves - including spinach - right through the winter months, | both in the open and under plastic or fleece. | | Where I would agree with Nick is that things don't get started very well | at this time of year - seedlings seem to need a lot more light than is | available now - so in my experience it's best to sow in August and early | September. Precisely. I didn't say that they wouldn't survive, but that they wouldn't GROW. Established plants won't grow significantly, either, but effectively sit there during the darkest months of winter. If you don't have plants already established, there is little point in starting them now. In early February, there will be a LOT more light (though still very little), and the level will be increasing rapidly. In early March, the light level will be enough to plant most hardy seeds. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#6
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Spinach experts?
The message
from "bnd777" contains these words: Anyone experience of growing spincah in the South of the UK ? Can i grow it in the winter in a cold frame or a greenhouse ? I`ve got Spinach growing in south lincs still. How much longer it`ll last I dont know. Sow it and see. |
#7
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Spinach experts?
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message ... In article , Max Wright writes: | | That seems to me a bit defeatist. Just because things grow slowly now | doesn't mean they're not worth growing at all, particularly if you can | give them some protection. This year and last, gardening in a frost | pocket in North London (it was -6 here last night), I've picked salad | and other leaves - including spinach - right through the winter months, | both in the open and under plastic or fleece. | | Where I would agree with Nick is that things don't get started very well | at this time of year - seedlings seem to need a lot more light than is | available now - so in my experience it's best to sow in August and early | September. Precisely. I didn't say that they wouldn't survive, but that they wouldn't GROW. Established plants won't grow significantly, either, but effectively sit there during the darkest months of winter. That's what's happening with my outdoor Swiss chard, such a pity ... but there'll be enough for Christmas dinner! And we've had lots from it already. Mary |
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