Thanks to the extended cool and moist spring we were finally able to have a proper spinach harvest. The weather here is so odd and for some reason my spinach often shoots or goes yellow on me. This, in spite of the measures that I take to retard this event. It became such a 'given' that I just stopped growing spinach and concentrated on alternatives. This year we got some seeds and in the description on the back of the seed packet it said that one of the qualities of this type of spinach was that it was not a bolter. My bride was actually the one that pulled me over the line to give spinach "one more chance". I was finished with it. I had reached the end of my patience with the consecutive failures. It was with a reluctant sigh that I manned-up and got with the program, so to speak. Well, after all, it was veg and her call. I have the final word on things flowery, she on things veggie. This agreement means that we do not spend too much time on discussions and decision-making. It works for us. I am digressing again. I could waffle for Holland, my bride says. Oké then...spinach. Three mini rows were thickly planted as a trial. The seeds germinated and grew very slowly, but then one day it just sort of exploded into leafy green bouquets of spinach harvestables. It was quite cold that evening, but I got down on all-fours and gave those spinach plants a good trimming. I ruthlessly cut them short and the basket began to fill. Since the harvesting, I have watered the rows every day and now they are coming back, and it looks like I may get a second harvest...providing we don't get a heatwave. There then--the job done. My partner removed the leaves from the onion basket and stuffed them into a small cardboard fruit box for transportation home. Amazing how they compact, innit. Once home we began immediately to to process the spinach. There were pans and colanders all over the place. Boiling water, steam and a few "ouches". We got seven meals out of this lot of spinach, one of which we ate fresh; the rest we froze in for meals later on. The taste of success was good...delicious in fact. My bride asked me what I thought of the spinach and I said that it tasted especially good and that I saw it as an accomplishment for us. She apologized for not helping much with the harvesting and said that her back was a bit stiff. I remarked (without thinking) if she thought it was poor condition or her age. Well y'know, the bump on my head is healing nicely now though.
Nice crop Sjoerd. Your bride is a smart lady. I did Swiss chard yesterday and my kitchen looked like yours. Going to do spinach today.
That's a great looking crop of spinach! I also had problems growing spinach and a friend suggested chard. Not only does it grow well for us, we actually like it better.
Great post Sjoerd, congratulations on the accomplishment of finally grovving spinach.. I'm hoping that you made notes of vvhat contributed to your success.. Hank
Congrats on the spinach Sjoerd! I have just weeded my spinach row and it won't be long and I will be able to eat spinach too. I love spring
Glad yours is doing well. Mine is drowning since we have had so much rain. I plant Giant Noble and Bloomsdale spinach every year and only in mid summer 90 degrees and above have I had problems with bolting.
Thanks for the posting DONNA-- How did it go with your spinach? PL--I am sure that planting it earlier helps, and I think that the spinach sort is also important. I wish that I knew the name of the sort we used this year. 2OF--Yes, chard is a REALLY good alternative. I grow that every year whether or not I am trying spinach. I like the taste of it better than spinach as well. The thing is that my bride prefers spinach. hahahaha.So we have to try spinach from time to time. Hiya HANK--Thanks for the congrats. We made all sorts of notes...except perhaps the most important one: the name of the spinach type. I guess that came from our disbelief in success. chuckle. I shall have to go back and look up the various order sheets. NETTY-- Thanks. Good to hear that you are weeding your spinach patch. Personally I find that an essential thing to do with some crops, spinach being one of them. Onions are another. Some crops can tolerate the presence of the odd weed, but others not. I'm with you when you say, "I love spring". MART--Thank you so much for your posting. I was sorry to hear that it is so wet where you live. When I think of Texas, I do not immediately think of rain for some reason. I do appreciate you mentioning they types of spinach that you use every year. That will come in handy next year. I shall see if they are available in Europe. Thanks again.
