Spinach
Spinacia oleracea
In a typical UK garden, sow indoors late February to late March, sow outside early March to early May, plant out mid-March to mid-April, and harvest mid-April to mid-June.
When to sow, plant and harvest
Last frost around 20 April, first frost around 31 October.
- Sow indoors
- late February to late March
- Sow outdoors
- early March to early Maylate August to late September
- Plant out
- mid-March to mid-April
- Harvest
- mid-April to mid-Juneearly October to mid-April
Growing facts
- Spacing
- 15 cm apart, rows 30 cm apart
- Square foot
- 9 per square (30 cm squares)
- Sowing depth
- 2 cm
- Ready in
- 40 to 50 days from sowing
- Grows to
- 25 cm
- Hardiness
- Hardy to about -10 °C
- Sun
- Copes with some shade
- Crops for
- About 6 weeks
Growing tip
Sow in spring or late summer; spinach runs to seed quickly in heat and long days.
Neighbours
Grows well with
Leafy greens are one crop rotation group. Try not to grow them where any of the family grew in the last two or three years. How crop rotation works
More leafy greens
Where these figures come from
Every crop in VegLog was checked against published growing advice. Dates are worked out from average frost dates, so they shift with your garden. For spinach, we used:
Grow spinach with VegLog
Add spinach to a bed and VegLog reminds you when to sow, plant out and pick, timed to your own town's frost dates.
