Content
- 1 Features and conditions for growing spinach
- 2 Spinach varieties for cultivation in soil
- 3 When to sow spinach outdoors
- 4 Is it possible to plant spinach before winter
- 5 How to plant spinach
- 6 How to grow spinach in the garden
- 7 How to grow spinach in a greenhouse
- 8 Growing spinach industrially
- 9 Harvesting
- 10 Reproduction
- 11 Conclusion
Growing and caring for spinach in the open field will interest gardeners who appreciate vitamin greens on their table in early spring. Harvest ripens when there is not a large variety of vegetables. Catherine de Medici, who was distinguished by her excellent health, asked the court chefs to serve spinach to the table every day. It is believed that it was she who introduced the fashion for this dish in France.
Features and conditions for growing spinach
Spinach is the king of French cuisine and an American favorite. In Russia, it is grown less often, underestimating the beneficial qualities of this leafy vegetable. The agrotechnics for growing and caring for spinach are different from other green crops for outdoor use. It overgrows very quickly and becomes unfit for food. It is a cold-resistant crop that quickly turns into flowering with long daylight hours. Improper maintenance, growing in arid climates and very dense seeding will also speed up shooting.
The plant needs care until it starts to grow. Young seedlings require care - they are regularly watered, removed weeds, and loosened the soil. Agricultural technology for growing crops in the open field:
- Grown up spinach is surprisingly unpretentious in care, it can not stand only stagnant water at the roots and strong drying out of the soil. It develops rapidly, early ripening varieties are edible as early as 2 weeks after germination.
- If the weather is dry, caring for spinach necessarily includes watering, then the open wet ground is mulched with sawdust.
- The plant does not need fertilizers during growth in the garden; it is better to underfeed it than overfeed it. The leaves easily accumulate nitrates from excess nitrogen in the soil.
In growing spinach from seeds, pre-sowing preparation of the land plays an important role. Caring for the site includes digging, adding nutrient and loosening components.
Spinach varieties for cultivation in soil
In the Middle Ages, spinach was considered a delicacy. Now it is included in the menu of many diets to strengthen the body and prevent diseases. It contains a complex of vitamins and minerals, amino acids and vegetable fats. The carotene in spinach leaves is the same as in carrots.
It is best to plant varieties that are undemanding to care for and easy to grow - slow to shoot, frost-resistant, tasty and productive. Describing the best varieties for temperate regions will help you make the right choice.
Spinach Fatty
The Zhirnolistny variety was entered in the State Register in 1971. It has an average ripening period, the first crop is harvested a month after germination. The rosette of green leaves is half-raised, up to 28 cm in diameter, the weight of one bush is about 20 g, the yield is from 1 sq. m is 2.4 kg.The variety discovered by Soviet breeders is distinguished by good taste, unpretentious care and disease resistance. Spinach Fat-leaved is recommended for cultivation throughout Russia.
Spinach Giant
The Giant spinach variety was included in the State Register in 1978. The plant has a compact rosette with a diameter of about 50 cm. The length of the leaf plate is up to 18 cm, the width is up to 14 cm, the color is light green, the surface is wrinkled. With good care in the open field, the mass of one plant is 20-28 g. Giant spinach has an early ripening period. The crop can be harvested after 2 weeks of cultivation from the moment of germination, from 1 sq. m - up to 2.5 kg.
Red spinach
The color of spinach is not only green, but also red. The veins and leaf petioles are the most intensely colored. Red spinach varieties.
Bordeaux F1 - the leaves are green with red petioles and veins. The diameter of the rosette is about 30 cm, the height is up to 20 cm. It grows well when planted outdoors in a sunny place, the taste is sweeter than that of green spinach.
Red Cardinal F1 - a hybrid with green leaves, pink veins and petioles. Undemanding to care for, resistant to powdery mildew. Ripening in open ground is 30-40 days after germination.
Red spinach is sometimes referred to as a related plant that is grown outdoors, like leafy greens such as Swiss chard.
Spinach Uteusha
This is an interesting hybrid of spinach and sorrel, discovered in the second half of the 20th century by the Ukrainian scientist Yu. A. Uteush. The plant does not require special care, it is grown for salads and soups, as well as a forage crop. The height of the bushes in summer reaches 2 m. Growing seedlings in a greenhouse gives good results. Then the formed bushes are transplanted into open ground, in one place they can grow up to 15 years. The plant tastes like a mixture of spinach and sorrel.
Spinach victoria
The late-ripening spinach variety Victoria was included in the State Register in 1950. The growing period from germination of seeds to ripening of the crop is 19-37 days. Semicircular dark green leaves of the plant are collected in a compact rosette with a diameter of up to 20 cm. The amount of harvest per 1 sq. m in the open field is 2.5-3.5 kg, the weight of one plant is up to 28 g. Spinach is suitable for fresh consumption and heat treatment - making salads, soups, sauces.
Spinach Popeye
Spinach Papay belongs to the varieties of domestic selection, it was entered in the State Register in 2015. The leaf rosette is semi-horizontal, up to 25 cm high, the weight of one plant is up to 35 g, the yield from 1 sq. m when grown outdoors - up to 3 kg. Leaves are dark green with excellent flavor, medium arrowing. The variety is early maturing, the crop is recommended for cultivation in all regions of Russia.
Spinach boa
The Boa hybrid variety is included in the State Register in 2017. It was bred in the Netherlands and belongs to the early maturing hybrids of the first generation. Resistant to cold and disease, suitable for growing outdoors in all regions of Russia. Leaves are oval green, growing on petioles of medium length. Leaf rosette horizontal or semi-upright, up to 15 cm in diameter, weight - up to 60 g. Productivity from 1 sq. M. m in open ground - up to 1.7 kg. The advantage of growing a Boa crop is the late shooting.
When to sow spinach outdoors
Sowing spinach in the open field is carried out from late April to mid-August with an interval of 3-4 weeks. Seeds germinate at + 4 ° C. Open shoots can withstand frosts down to -5 ° C, and mature plants even up to -15 ° C. Thanks to this frost resistance, spinach can be grown on the site throughout the growing season.
Vegetables that are good precursors for outdoor cultivation include:
- potatoes;
- cabbage;
- radish.
To get an early harvest, you can build a non-woven shelter over the garden bed. In warm weather, seedlings appear in 4-5 days.
Is it possible to plant spinach before winter
For an early harvest of spinach in the spring, the best time to plant seeds outdoors is in the fall. Winter sowing begins from mid-August to mid-September. Before winter, the seeds must be sown so that they do not have time to sprout - in November, before the onset of stable cold weather. Crops do not need care in the fall. As soon as the snow melts, the first shoots will appear in the spring. Crop with this cultivation can be harvested 10 days earlier than from sowing in early spring.
How to plant spinach
When grown outdoors, spinach does not require much maintenance. The seeds are buried in the soil by 2-3 cm. They are planted in furrows or holes located at a distance of 20 cm from each other. Place 2-3 seeds in each well. When shoots appear, they are left to grow one by one, the strongest, the rest are pulled out.
When planting in furrows, sowing is done at a distance of 2-3 cm, the seeds are large, so it is easy to maintain the required gap between them. The distance between furrows in the open field is left 20-25 cm. If during daily maintenance the moisture of the beds is maintained, seedlings will appear about a week after sowing.
Seedlings are thinned out in the phase of two true leaves. A distance of 8-10 cm is left between the plants in the open field. Planting of late varieties with a large diameter of leaf rosettes during cultivation is thinned out as it grows, using young greens for food.
Landing site preparation
The plant is undemanding to the soil, it grows on any other than acidic and heavy. To get a good harvest, the site is prepared in the fall. The garden bed is dug up, a bucket of humus and a glass of wood ash are brought in for each square meter. Deoxidized peat and river sand are also added to make the land looser and more fertile, suitable for growing crops.
In the spring, before planting spinach seeds in open ground, the plot is leveled, compacted and well watered. For sowing, furrows are made with a depth of 2 cm, maintaining a distance between them of 20-25 cm.
Seed preparation
Spinach seeds for spring sowing in open ground are prepared in advance. They are covered with a dense shell, so you have to wait a long time for the first shoots. This structural feature allows the seeds to successfully winter in the open field, germinating during the first spring thaw.
To speed up the emergence of seedlings in spring, before sowing, the seeds are soaked for 2-3 days in water (+30 ° C) or mixed with moist rotted sawdust and placed in a warm place for several days.
How to plant spinach outdoors
Spinach is sown in open ground before winter or early spring. This cold-resistant crop, undemanding to care, begins to grow before all other vegetables. Seeds are laid out in the prepared furrows, keeping a small distance between them. Sprinkle with soil on top, level and mulch. Watering from a watering can into the aisles so as not to wash out the crops.
To get an earlier harvest in the open field, cover the bed with foil. When shoots appear, they remove the shelter during the day and return it again at night, protecting it from frost. Seedlings can be grown on a windowsill, they do not require special care.
How to grow spinach in the garden
The dates for planting spinach outdoors fall in the spring and late summer: from April to May and from July to August. A place for growing crops is chosen well-lit with fertile or fertilized loose soils. Caring for spinach in the open field is simple - thinning crops, weeding, loosening the soil, watering.
Watering and feeding
When growing spinach outdoors, keep in mind that it loves water. In hot dry weather, it has to be watered almost every day. This leafy vegetable is capable of accumulating nitrates, therefore, it is better to refuse nitrogen and organic fertilizers for self-care and growing in the garden. Organic and mineral fertilizing is applied in open ground at the pre-sowing stage.
The care for industrial cultivation is different. Seedlings are fed with potash and nitrogen fertilizers at 0.1 t / ha, adding them simultaneously with watering.
Weeding and loosening
After each watering, the aisles are loosened - such care helps the development of roots and the growth of leaf mass. To reduce the amount of watering and loosening, mulch the beds with humus or compost. When grown on heavy soil, which retains moisture and does not allow air to pass through, spinach grows poorly, therefore, before planting, deoxidized peat, rotted compost and river sand are introduced.
Protection against diseases and pests
Strong spinach bushes are rarely affected by diseases and pests in the open field - this makes maintenance easier. Good plant immunity is important because insecticide and fungicide treatments are prohibited when growing leafy early ripening greens. In unfavorable weather conditions, yield losses are possible. High humidity during frequent rains leads to a downy mildew attack. For the prevention of fungal infections, it is advisable to treat the beds before sowing with "Fitosporin" or "Trichodermin".
On dry days, leaf aphids, a carrier of the beet jaundice virus, parasitize spinach bushes. It is important to maintain optimum soil moisture during cultivation. For pest control, it is better to use folk methods - infusions of onion husks, tobacco, makhorka, soap solutions, etc.
Improper care - waterlogging or drying out of open ground, its increased acidity can lead to yellowing of leaves and a stop in growth. A mistake is a thickened planting, placing beets near the beds, which have common pests with spinach - beet nematodes and leaf aphids.
How to grow spinach in a greenhouse
Spinach is easy to grow in a greenhouse for the winter. The seeds are sown from September to February. To accelerate germination, they are pre-soaked for 1-2 days. To reduce the cost of caring for the crop, the temperature is maintained at + 10 ... + 15 ° C. Young spinach easily tolerates small frosts. Greenhouse care includes weeding, watering, airing on warm days.
In February or March, when it is too early to plant spinach outdoors, start sowing seeds in containers. Technology for growing and caring for seedlings in a greenhouse:
- For sowing in a small home greenhouse, they take plastic containers, at the bottom of which drainage holes are made.
- The soil for growing needs loose and nutritious; universal soil from the store is suitable. It is poured into a planting container, moistened from a spray bottle.
- Seeds are laid out on the soil surface in furrows, this facilitates further cultivation and maintenance. You can simply sow, and when seedlings appear, dive them into separate containers.
- Sprinkle the seeds on top with a layer of soil about 2 cm.
- Cover the container with a transparent lid or bag, put it in a warm, bright place in a greenhouse. The optimum temperature for germination is + 18… + 20 ° C.
- In 5-7 days from the moment of sowing the soaked seeds, friendly shoots appear.
- Seedling containers are left open, moistened as the soil dries out.
- Further care consists in watering with settled water using a spray bottle.
After about 2 weeks, you can eat greens of early ripening varieties or plant grown seedlings in greenhouse beds.
Growing spinach industrially
You can industrially grow spinach in a greenhouse or open field. High-yielding, shoot-resistant and easy-to-care varieties with an early ripening period, such as Boa, are selected.
The soil is fertile, loose, with neutral acidity. Preliminary preparation of the site includes liming the soil, the introduction of compost or humus at 30 t / ha, superphosphate and potassium chloride at 1.5 c / ha. In the spring, the field is harrowed, before sowing, it is cultivated, fertilizing with ammonium nitrate at a rate of 2 c / ha.
For industrial cultivation and caring for spinach in the open field, planting using a multi-line belt method according to the scheme 32x75 cm is used. The rate of seed consumption per hectare is from 25 to 40 kg. When the seedlings form 2 true leaves, thinning is carried out, leaving a distance of at least 8 cm between them. Further care in the open field includes weeding and watering. Net harrowing helps to control weeds.
Harvesting begins when the plants form rosettes of 6-8 well-developed leaves. Spinach is plucked by the root or cut at the level of the lower leaves. The maximum amount of harvest from 1 hectare in the open field is 300 centners. On large fields, a machine with a KIR-1.5 transport trolley is used for harvesting.
Harvesting
Harvesting in the open field is undesirable after rain or watering, so that the base of the leaf outlet does not rot in the place where the leaves are torn off. Plants harvested early in the morning retain their presentation and freshness better.
Spinach belongs to early maturing crops, very easy to care for. Planting of some varieties ripens 14-20 days after germination. It is not worth delaying the harvest, the overgrown leaves will become rough, with age they lose their nutritional value. The crop is used fresh, boiled, stewed, frozen and canned. Fresh leaves are stored for no more than 5-7 days, and at a temperature of 0 ° C and a humidity of 100% - up to 14 days.
You can sow seeds outdoors in the second half of the summer to reap a second crop in the fall. The space vacated in early June in the garden can be taken with tomato seedlings.
Reproduction
Spinach is an annual herb from the Amaranth family. Unpretentious in care, propagated by seeds. A hybrid with sorrel Uteusha is a perennial, can be propagated by dividing the bush.
The seeds are bought in the store or collected their own. For this, the strongest and largest plants are left in the open field during care. Seeds ripen by August. Plants with seed pods are pulled out, allowed to dry in an open attic, and then the required amount is husked and stored in a dry, dark place until sowing. The seed yield is 45 g / sq. m, they remain viable for 3-4 years.
Conclusion
Growing and caring for spinach outdoors will greatly benefit gardeners. It is better to grow this crop away from highways and railways. Spinach is unpretentious to care for, ripens quickly, dishes made from it are healthy and tasty. This leafy vegetable can be grown outdoors, in a greenhouse, and even on a windowsill.
