When to sow spinach?
- Botanical name
- Spinacia oleracea
- Family
- Amaranthaceae
Spinach is sown outdoors from March to September, 2.5 cm deep. It germinates in 12 to 15 days. It is harvested from April to November.
Spinach is an annual plant. The edible parts are the leaves.
Spinach through the year
- indoor sowing
- transplanting
- outdoor sowing
- harvest
In short
The last frost is not on the same day everywhere, so the recorded weeks are a guide and not a date.
Growing conditions
Companions in the bed
Companion planting is tradition and not an agronomic claim. What is recorded is which pairs sources recommend and which they advise against.
- “Cited” means the pair is named by one source or two.
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
European corn borer
pest- Signs
- Small entry holes in the stem with borings that look like sawdust. Above them the foliage wilts or the stem snaps.
- Prevention
- In autumn remove or shred the stems in which the caterpillars overwinter: cut them off at ground level and mulch them, plough them in or carry them off the bed. This is the strongest measure, because it takes the pest's winter quarters away.
- What to do
- Split the attacked stem below the entry hole and destroy the caterpillar. On a small bed this is workable and more precise than spraying, which does not reach a caterpillar inside a stem anyway.
Flea beetles
pest- Signs
- The leaves are riddled with small round holes, as if somebody had peppered them with shot. Touched, the beetles jump. Young plants with such leaves stall or die, older ones grow through the damage.
- Prevention
- Clear away the plant debris in which the beetles overwinter. Cover the bed with fleece right after sowing or planting and leave it until the plants are strong. Keep the soil moist, because a dry warm spring is the worst case.
- What to do
- Pin fleece down at the edges, which is the main measure. In autumn or early spring loosen the top layer of soil to cut down the number of overwintering beetles.
Leaf miners
pest- Signs
- Pale winding trails or irregular blotches just under the skin of the leaf, with the larvae inside them. The blotches are broad and the leaf is no longer for the plate.
- Prevention
- Cover the bed with fleece before the flies start laying their eggs in early spring. Remove the weeds of the same family, on which the pest keeps going between crops.
- What to do
- Squeeze the attacked leaves between your fingers so that the larvae in them die, or remove and destroy the leaves, which is the main measure. Do not spray, because that also destroys the parasitoids that keep the miners in check.
Slugs and snails
pest- Signs
- Holes appear in the middle of the leaf rather than along the edge, young plants are eaten down to the ground, and there are slimy trails in the morning. On low-growing fruit there are gnawed pits.
- Prevention
- Remove the hiding places beside the bed: boards, stones, dense weeds. Water in the morning and not in the evening, so that the night is dry. Spread a band of coarse sand or gravel around the bed. Cover young plants with fleece. Pick them off at night, which is still the most effective measure.
Keep track of your plants with Tendask
Log the task and set a reminder for the next one. Every plant keeps its own history, so there is nothing to guess at.
Related plants
The plants below are in the same botanical family (Amaranthaceae).
Sources about the plant: Alabama Cooperative Extension System, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, KGZS Zavod Ljubljana, KGZS Zavod Nova Gorica, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Semenarna Ljubljana, Smernice za strokovno utemeljeno gnojenje (Mihelič et al., MKGP 2011), University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 28 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: EPPO Global Database, University of Maryland Extension.