Spinach is an amazing plant that has a huge number of useful properties and is extremely unpretentious. However, there are several rules regarding seed pretreatment and sowing. You need to familiarize yourself with this information in order to correctly carry out these measures and provide spinach with the most favorable conditions for growth.
Preparation of spinach seeds for sowing in soil and seedlings
When working with seeds, try to use only soft water at room temperature - melt, rain or boiled. If you use tap water, then first defend it during the day.
Spinach seeds are brownish and small in size.
Unlike other crops, spinach does not require thorough pre-sowing preparation, but it is not worth neglecting because its seeds have a dense shell and it is difficult for them to germinate independently.
- Calibration Go through the seeds and remove those that have defects, and sort the rest by size.
- Soaking in clean water. Put a piece of cotton cloth on the bottom of the plate, lay the seeds on it and add enough water so that it slightly covers them. Put the workpiece in a dark place for a day, changing the water every 4 hours and making sure that the seeds are always moistened (they can be covered with another soaked piece of cloth). Then remove the seeds and dry slightly.
- Disinfection. Place the seeds for 10 minutes in a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate (dilute 1 g of powder in 200 ml of water). Then remove them, rinse in clean water and dry.
It is necessary to pre-sow spinach seeds to ensure their better germination
Spinach seeds prepared in this way are immediately sown in the ground.
Sowing spinach seedlings
It is worth noting that spinach seedlings are rarely grown, since there is a high risk of damage to the soft roots during transplanting. But if you want to prepare seedlings, it is better to use small individual containers for sowing. It is recommended to give preference to peat pots or peat tablets, since in this case you will not have to extract a plant from them when planting in the ground.
Sowing in various containers (table)
| Capacity | Peat pot (100-200 ml) or a plastic cup | Peat tablet (preferred diameter 4 cm) |
| Sowing time | End of March - beginning of April | End of March - beginning of April |
| Sowing technology |
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Shoots will appear in 5-7 days, after which you can remove the film. Moisten the soil in a timely manner and ventilate the plantings (10 min 2 times a day), and when sprouts appear, carefully spray them from the spray gun. It is advisable to plant seedlings in open ground at the age of 15-20 days, counting from the moment of sowing.
Sow spinach seedlings preferably in peat pots or peat tablets
Open Spinach Sowing
When planting and caring for spinach in the open ground, you must provide the proper conditions for growth, choose the right site and carry out all the necessary preparatory measures.
Bed preparation
Good precursors for spinach are potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, beets and some varieties of cabbage (early and cauliflower). In areas where late cabbage and carrots grew before, spinach is undesirable.
It is advisable to prepare a bed for spinach in the fall if you want to sow it in the spring, or at the end of August if you want to plant spinach in the winter. When preparing, consider not only the predecessors, but also the quality of the soil. Spinach grows best in sunny areas with fertile loose soils (sandy loam or loamy) with neutral acidity. Dig up the soil and add 4-5 kg of humus, 200-300 g of ash and mineral fertilizers (urea - 10 g and superphosphate - 15 g) per 1 m2. If the soil is acidified, then liming 5-7 days before fertilizing: dig the soil 20 cm and sprinkle deoxidizing material (lime, dolomite flour) at a rate of 200-300 g / m2.
The main features of acidic soil include the presence of light plaque on its surface, rusty water in pits and a large number of weeds, such as dandelion and horsetail.
If you want to plant spinach in the spring, then immediately before sowing, once again dig a shallow bed, and then loosen it. It is also desirable to strengthen the bed from the sides with slate or boards: spinach requires abundant and frequent watering, and this measure will help prevent erosion of its sides.
Sowing spinach in the ground (table)
| Sowing season | Spring Summer | Autumn |
| Sowing dates | The end of April - the beginning of May, when the soil warms up to +5aboutC to a depth of 10 cm. Under temporary shelter, spinach can be sown in mid-April. The second and subsequent crops can be carried out every 2 weeks until the beginning of June, since the culture develops well at cool and moderately warm temperatures (+1aboutC - +24aboutC) and with a short (10 h) daylight. You can also sow spinach from the beginning to the end of August, when the heat subsides. | The end of October - the beginning of November, after the onset of frost. |
| Sowing pattern | The distance between the plants in a row and rows when sowing seeds:
The distance between plants in a row when planting seedlings:
| Only seeds are sown according to the scheme recommended for the variety. |
| Technology for sowing seeds and planting seedlings | Sowing seeds:
Transplanting:
Option 2. With a change
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Gardeners in the Midland and other cold regions are also advised to mulch the bed. For this purpose, straw or sawdust sprinkled with a layer of 5 cm is suitable. |
It is desirable to sow seeds and plant spinach seedlings according to the scheme, observing the distance between the rows and plantings so that the plants do not interfere with each other
Spinach does not apply to crops with a strong root system, so you can well place it on beds with other plants - eggplant, onions, dill, beans and peas, tomatoes and radishes. Planting spinach next to celery, zucchini, beets and asparagus is not recommended.
Sowing spinach in the open ground (video)
As you can see, preparing seedlings or sowing spinach seeds in the ground is not a big deal, and even those who grow this cultivar for the first time will cope with it. Follow all the recommendations, do the work at the right time, and you will provide yourself with an excellent crop.
