The Garden Season Starts with Spinach

Every year I begin the season with growing spinach indoors in order to give them a good head start to the new season.  I have found that this is a good way to begin because it is always the same for the most part.  This year I am trying something new with my spinach plants that I think will be very beneficial in the long run.

One of the best strategies that you can use when growing spinach indoors or outdoors is to soak them in water for 24 hours and then try planting them.  I never did this before because I didn't think that this would help in germination.

I decided that this season I would try it and see what would happen.  The theory is that these seeds have a tough shell and in order to soften the shell you would soak them in water.  This will allow for better and increased germination.  This is only a theory and one that I am going to test this season.  I have 24 pots that I will be using for growing spinach.  This means that I should have 24 plants to transplant into the garden.

I planted spinach seeds in 12 containers today and placed them under the lights for faster germination.  The other seeds are in a container being soaked and I will plant them tomorrow in the afternoon.  Noon time is when I placed them in a container of water.  You should soak them for 24 hours.  I will see if this simple technique helps with germination.  I like to put at least four to five seeds in each container as this will increase the chances of getting at least one of the five to sprout.

This year I am also going to be using sifted soil that I created from my worm composting.  I used this last year, but instead of sifting it I just placed them in the pots.  This year I worked out a way to sift all the good soil without getting of the worms into the soil.  Hopefully all the good nutrients and worm castings got through.  I will know in a couple of weeks whether or not the sifting was a good idea.

I will also be starting to grow flowers pretty soon such as alyssum, dill, sunflowers, cosmos, calendula, and many more.  Make sure to check back to this blog and find out what is happening with my garden plants.

Moving Spinach Into The Garden Took Place This Week

After a month and a half it was about time to finally get these plants into the last spot they will grow.  At this time it will be too late to start growing them from seed inside pots, but you might be able to grow them from seed directly in the soil.  I would not recommend this because spinach has a somewhat short season that will not allow for this late of a planting.

Although if you live in a cold climate you will have a much longer season which will allow for this type of growing season.  I live in a temperate climate that limits the amount of time I have to use for these plants.  Let's get into the details of properly transplanting spinach.

I want to first discuss what types of organic materials I used to feed these plants.  I like to use manure or organic humus along with some bone meal.  These two items are perfect for transplants and allow a much smoother transition into the garden.

I also like to add some lime and pulverized eggshells into the mix.  I have found that spinach tastes much better when lime is added into the soil prior to planting them.  I also like to use eggshells as a testing agent with my plants.  They contain trace elements that will help in the production of delicious fruit.

Here are the two products I would recommend using if you are going to transplant anything into the garden.  They give your plants a boost and make sure that the roots stay strong with a spoonful of bone meal as shown below.

Once you get them into the holes that you prepared it is time to fill it up with water.  This is a technique that I use which allows water to get to the roots quickly and you won't have to water them for the next couple of days.  This will easily assimilate them into the soil quickly.

Then place the plant into the water once you remove it from the pot.

Fill it in with the extra soil that was removed when you dug the holes and that is all to it.  It doesn't have to be difficult once you acquire the appropriate information and directions.

Placing Your Spinach Outside Beginning Today

I have recently described the important process of hardening your spinach plants and acclimating them to the weather in your area.  Today I want to let you know that I have placed all of them outside to get them ready for living outside in the garden until the harvest is over. 

Placing them outside is very easy and it doesn't take that much time as long as you have the proper temperatures that they can thrive in.  Luckily this entire week is supposed to get warmer which will allow the spinach plants to thrive in.  Temperatures at night hit a low that is just above 30 degrees Fahrenheit which is still within the threshold that these plants can tolerate.

If you are concerned about a quick freeze or a frost then you can easily bring them inside for the night and protect them from these temperatures.  A frost will easily wipe out your entire spinach harvest if they are exposed to it for any length of time.  Luckily for us spinach is very tolerant of low temperatures and can be placed outside earlier than what most people would think.

This is what I did to get them exposed to the outside environment:

Half of them are small while the other half look like they are ready to be placed into the garden.  This is because I had an additional planting that needed to be completed shortly after initially planting them.  I thought I had enough seeds that would have sprouted successfully, but this was not the case.  Instead I had to use the pots that did not sprout any spinach for another set.  Other than that I have had no set backs so far.