How to Grow Spinach at Home With Ease

Growing leafy greens at home is interesting and people can enjoy the foods grown by themselves. Spinach is one of the most popular leafy greens for salads and other recipes due to their rich vitamins and nutrients, healthy benefits, and fresh taste. If you want to grow spinach but lack of space and time, growing spinach at home in pots or containers is a good choice. Don’t worry. Spinach is a hardy leafy green, and it is easy to grow indoors. Even beginners can grow spinach successfully. Moreover, advanced agriculture technology like LED grow lights help you grow spinach at home with ease. You just need a bit of time and some essential tools to start home spinach cultivation.

FQA: growing spinach at home

When to start growing spinach

Spinach is a cool weather leafy green. The actual time to start planting spinach depends on your locations. It is recommended starting spinach about four to eight weeks before the average last frost date. During these periods, you are able to achieve the maximum harvest per year. If it is too complex, you can simply start in the spring or fall. For places with sufficient lighting and moderate temperature, you can grow spinach all year round.

How long does it take to harvest spinach

Spinach takes about 45 to 60 days for harvest. However, the days to harvest vary from species, spacing, and the quality of soils. It also related to growing environment including temperature, lighting, humidity, etc.

Will spinach plants regrow after cutting

Yes. As an annual vegetable, spinach can regrow after cutting. However, you should be careful not to damage the growth point when you harvest spinach plants. To make spinach sprout again, you should use sharp scissors or knife to cut the spinach plant at the base of the leaf.

Quick care guide of home spinach

Step by step: how to grow spinach at home with ease

Generally speaking, it is not difficult to grow spinach at home. Spinach requires well-draining soil, enough space, cool temperature, sufficient lighting, and to grow fast and robust. If your places are lack of sunlight, LED grow lights are perfect for supplementing lighting to spinach. Spinach plants are ready for harvest for 6 to 8 weeks from growing. With the optimal growing environment, spinach will regrow after harvest. Then you can enjoy the delicious spinach contentiously.

• Choose a suitable container

There is no accurate requirements of containers for growing spinach. Crates, wooden boxes, pots, or grow bags are common options for home spinach. A medium-sized container is applicable for most conditions. If you want to harvest larger or more spinach, use a deep and large container. Deeper containers can keep soil moisture. Larger containers provide enough space for spinach to grow. For better ventilation and avoid rotten roots caused by over-watering, a container with drainage hole would be a good choice.

• Use loamy and well-draining soil, and keep it moist

Spinach requires loamy and organically rich soil to support their growth. This soil can provide enough nutrients for spinach for their long growing period. Since spinach cannot tolerate much standing water, well-draining soil is essential. Therefore, keep the soil moist but soggy or wet. Besides, spinach prefers soil in neutral PH (about 7.0). Loamy, moist, well-draining, and neutral PH soil is the best choice to grow spinach at home.

• Water the soil, keep it moist but avoid soggy

It is hard to calculate how much water you should offer your spinach plants. Keep in mind to keep the soil evenly moist. However, avoid over-water or wet the foliage. Otherwise, it will cause roots rot or even fungal diseases.

• Supplement LED grow lights if there is insufficient sunlight at home

Although spinach is not a high light plant, it still requires at least 4 hours of full sunlight. 8 to 10 of hours direct sunlight is ideal for spinach plants. The shade tolerance of spinach makes it thrive in partial shade. However, spinach might grow slowly and leggy without sufficient lighting. LED grow lights are the best options for your home spinach. Atop provides Horti-Drone for home growing. Horti-Drone is efficient and energy-saving. It can improve the growth of spinach effectively by supplementing optimal lighting. At the stage of seeds and seedlings, lighting your spinach with Horti-Drone for about 10 - 14 hours. Then, shorten the light period to 6 - 8 hours for adult spinach plants. Horti-Drone also features dimming function with adjustable light intensity. Surveys showed that yields, nutrient content, and taste are affected by light intensity and light periods. If you want to achieve higher yields, provide lower light intensity and longer lighting time for your spinach plants. With higher intensity and shorter lighting time, spinach plants have higher nutrient content and better taste.

• Optimal temperature for growing spinach at home

As a hardy leafy green, spinach can tolerant the temperature as cold as 40°F. And it can still survive at temperatures as high as 90°F. But spinach cannot grow well at extreme temperature. The optimal temperature for better growth and quality is between 60°F to 75°F. If the temperature at home is higher than 90°F, you should shade your spinach plants. If not, the high temperature will make them wilt.

• Fertilize adult spinach plants

At the early stage, the loamy soil can provide nutrients for spinach. When spinach develops into an adult plant, nutrients in the soil might not be sufficient for it. Thus, you should fertilize the adult plant of spinach. Spinach does not require special fertilizer. You can simply provide a well-balanced or all-purpose fertilizer to the spinach plants. If you are a skilled gardener, organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion and compost are nice for spinach.

• Harvest your spinach plants at home freely

Spinach is an annual vegetable, so you can harvest it many times. Furthermore, you can harvest the baby leaves or larger leaves of your home spinach plants freely. It is recommended harvesting the outer and lowers leaves first, leaving the growing points and inner smaller leaves to develop new leaves again.