The unique properties of this vegetable plant should be considered “under the microscope”! In our area, spinach appeared about 200 years ago. And although the first favorite of the garden, as, for example, in the United States or in France, the plant did not become, apologists for healthy nutrition appreciated it. The role was also played by a successful “advertising campaign” from a popular animated film: the sailor Papay always had a jar of magic spinach at hand, which gave him a remarkable power. And when Popeye is worth to trust! Spinach is really very useful-thanks to a balanced combination of a huge number of important substances for the body. Its leaves contain youth-prolonging antioxidants, protein (almost as much as in beans) and very few calories. A real multivitamin diet bomb!
Spinach is quite cold-resistant (it can withstand freezing up to -6°C) and precocious culture: it can be collected in 30-45 days from the moment of emergence.
When choosing a variety, first of all you need to decide when exactly you plan to sow the plant. Cold-resistant varietal plants are suitable for sowing in early spring. But in the summer, you should sow more heat-loving, stable ones.
It is interesting
Spinach is a dioecious annual. “Female” plants form more leaves and bloom later than male plants. In representatives of the “stronger sex”, prone to early shooting, the flowers are larger, and the leaves, on the contrary, are small, and there are fewer useful substances in them. That is why when collecting spinach, first of all you need to remove male plants. Already bred bisexual varieties with flowers of both sexes. This spinach is considered particularly resistant, it can be sown even in the heat.
You can sow spinach in several stages, starting from the end of April and until June, and then in August. Important: in July, during the period when the peak of heat most often occurs, it is not recommended to do this, because in this case the plant quickly blooms and its leaves become unsuitable for food.
Seeds are sown in grooves with a distance of 35 cm between them. Then only loosen the row spacing and water (if there is a lack of moisture in warm weather, the leaves become smaller). As for nutrition, it is enough to add compost to the soil before sowing. Later, you should not feed spinach, especially with mineral fertilizers, otherwise the amount of nitrates in the leaves will increase.
Spinach has 5-6 leaves? So, it has reached consumer maturity! The plant can be cut, pulled out by the root, or torn off the outer leaves of the rosette as needed. Delay the harvest is not necessary, because the leaves quickly become hard and tasteless.
A delicious alternative to leafy spinach
Atriplex hortensis ‘Rubra’ is a delight for both the eyes and the stomach. This plant can be sown once a month from April to August. The first time the Swan is cut off, when it reaches a height of 20-25 cm.
Basella alba is an unpretentious climbing plant with fleshy, mineral-rich leaves.
Basella alba var. rubra is called Ceylon spinach.
Tetragonia tetragonioides, better known as new Zealand spinach, grows well even in the heat. You can sow from June.
Blitum foliosum yields in 6-8 weeks after sowing. If the plant is not cut, the stems produce strawberry-like fruits with the aroma of red beets, inedible, with many seeds.
Chenopodium giganteum grows up to 2 m in height and has numerous tender leaves.
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