How to Grow Spinach
Spinach At a Glance
Difficulty
Moderate
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Partial Sun, Partial Shade
Frost Tolerance
Frost Hardy
Cold Hardiness
Survives to -12°C
Plant Family
Amaranthaceae
Growing Season
Cool Season
Plant Lifecycle
Annual
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Spinach loves cold weather, so sow it 4 to 6 weeks before your last spring frost, as soon as the soil thaws and can be dug, and again about 6 weeks before your first fall frost. Sow seeds 1 cm deep, 10 cm apart, and keep the soil damp. They sprout in 7 to 14 days. Sow a short row every 2 weeks in spring for a steady supply, since each sowing only lasts a few weeks before the heat ends it.
Spinach is fast, ready in about 40 days, but warm weather and long summer days make it bolt (rush to flower and turn bitter), so spring and fall are its seasons. If you have our New Zealand spinach, it is a different plant that loves heat: sow it after your last frost and pick it all summer.
When To Start
First chance to plant
45 Days Before Last Frost
Last chance to plant
30 Days Before First Frost
When should you plant Spinach?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Spinach Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Spinach Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Sow spinach outdoors now, it loves cold weather
5 weeks before your last frost· every year
Sow spinach again now for a fall crop
6 weeks before your first frost· every year· optional
Pick spinach leaves young, before it bolts in the heat
5 weeks after your last frost· every year· optional
Did you water your spinach seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
Time to thin the spinach seedlings: snip the extras at soil level so each one has room to grow.
About 24 days after you plant it
Your spinach is growing! Keep the soil moist and cool so it stays leafy longer.
About 27 days after you plant it
Harvest time is near! Pick spinach leaves before the plant starts to send up a flower stalk.
About 41 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your spinach.
About 40 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Spinach's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 1
Prepare Your Space
1 cm
Seeding Depth
10 cm
Plant Spacing
30 cm
Row Spacing
9
Plants / Sq Ft
Vertical Growing
Yes: Tower.
Method: Tower.
Succession Planting
Yes.
Good Companions
Bad Companions
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 7–14 days
Growing Tips
- 1Grow spinach in full sun in spring and fall, and give it some afternoon shade as the days warm up to delay bolting.
- 2Mix plenty of compost into the soil, since spinach grows fast and needs rich, crumbly soil.
- 3Water often enough to keep the soil evenly moist, because dry soil is one of the things that makes spinach bolt.
- 4Feed with worm castings at sowing and a splash of compost tea every 2 weeks for big, dark leaves.
- 5Spinach does fine in a pot or window box at least 15 cm deep, which you can move into shade on hot days.
- 6If you see pale tunnels in the leaves, pick off those leaves, and keep row cover over the plants to stop the small flies that cause them (leaf miners).
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~40
Days to Maturity
17 cm
Mature Height
17 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
30 days
When to Pick
Harvest leaves before bolting
How to Harvest
- 1Start picking when the outer leaves are about 8 to 10 cm long, usually 5 to 6 weeks after sowing.
- 2Cut or pinch the outer leaves off at the base, and leave the small centre leaves to keep growing.
- 3Pick from each plant once or twice a week so it keeps making new leaves.
- 4When the centre starts to stretch up into a stalk, the plant is about to bolt, so pull the whole plant and eat it right away.
- 5Wash the leaves well, since soil hides in the folds, and keep them in a bag in the fridge for up to a week.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
Spinach makes seed the same year you sow it, so a spring sowing that bolts in summer is perfect for saving. Each plant is either male or female, and the wind carries pollen far, so let only one variety flower within about 800 m and let at least 10 plants flower together so you get both kinds. Hybrid F1 seeds will not grow true, so save only from a variety that is not a hybrid. The males fade after they shed pollen, while the females keep growing seed clusters along the stalk: pull the female plants when most seeds are brown and hang them somewhere dry for 1 to 2 weeks. Strip the seeds off (wear gloves, since some varieties are prickly) and store them labelled in a cool, dark, dry place, where they keep about 3 years. New Zealand spinach does not cross with true spinach.
Seed Production
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