When do I pick spinach?

Question

I planted some spinach from seeds, and the seedlings are already starting to sprout. What's the rule of thumb for picking it/knowing when it's ready? And how long does it take?

Answer 1

You can pick it at any size. Small leaves are nice in spinach salad. The larger leaves are better for cooked spinach. It's best to pick it at different sizes so that you can keep up a steady stream. If you let it all get to one size and pick it, you'll have a lot of spinach to deal with. You can also do what is called "consecutive planting" where you go out and plant a couple of feet of spinach seeds every 4-5 days. That way, you always have some spinach coming alone.



When the weather gets hot, most spinach begins to "bolt". Bolt means it wants to make seeds. This is the plants survival mechanism kicking in, making more seeds to reproduce itself. If you want spinach in hot weather, there are hybrids that were developed to take the heat without bolting.



Chard is a terrific plant. It's milder than spinach. It will produce during hot weather and all the way into the winter. Here in Oregon, I brush snow off the chard and take it in to cook. You cook it the same way you would spinach. It's also good in stir fry.

Answer 2

Spinach grows pretty fast. I like using young leaves because I use spinach mostly in salads. If you wait too long, it's going to flower and go to seed and the older leaves are more bitter and less tender. When the leaves are the same size as baby spinach in the store, pick them.

Answer 3

Really depends in which part of the world you live.