Vegetable spinach(Spinacia oleracea) is an annual plant in the Amaranth family. Due to the valuablenutritional properties of spinach , it is worth considering growing this vegetable in your garden. See howgrowing spinach in the garden should look like , which is especially important for good growth and yielding of this vegetable, andhow to harvest spinachto make its leaves they were really tasty and valuable.
Spinach in the garden
Fig. pixabay.com
Vegetable spinach - nutritional properties
Vegetable spinach is a rich source of vitamins and minerals100 g of fresh weight of this vegetable contains 60-80 mg of vitamin C, carotene and vitamins B1, B2, B6 and PPSpinach is also rich in iron and phosphorus , as well as copper and iodine compounds.
Unfortunatelya negative feature of spinach is the presence of oxalic acid and oxalates , which bind the calcium contained in spinach, making it inaccessible to the human body. The level of oxalate decreases as the plants grow, it decreases during cooking, moreover, it contains more spinach in spring and less in winter spinach.
Valuablenutritional properties of spinach and low caloric content of this vegetable make it worth including spinach in the diet of people who are slimming. This vegetable also has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. On the other hand, due to the oxalate content, remember not to consume too muchof spinach
Vegetable spinach - growing in the garden
Growing vegetable spinach in the gardenremember to provide it with fertile soil, rich in humus, permeable, with a pH close to neutral (ideal for spinach soil pH is 6, 0 to 6.8). Spinach becomes bitter when grown in barren soil.Vegetable spinach requires moist soilboth during the emergence and growth. Adequate soil moisture in the cultivation of spinach promotes good quality and size of the crop, the leaves are large, juicy and tasty. When it is dry, vegetable spinach forms leathery and small leaves.
In the cultivation of vegetable spinach the optimal temperaturefor its growth is 15-18 ° C. Plants are resistant to sub-zero temperatures down to -7 ° C, only at high temperatures, above 20 ° C, the plants are intensively broken into seed shoots.
Good to knowDue to the short growing season, vegetable spinach can be grown as a forecrop or as an aftercrop.From spring sowing in the form of a forecrop, spinach is grown in a position before tomato, cucumber, and late cabbage. For the fall harvest, it can be grown after early cabbage, cauliflower, and early potatoes.
It is worth remembering that due to common diseases and pestsit is not allowed to grow vegetable spinach after or near beets .
Spinach is sown straight into the ground in three dates :
- early spring (until April 15),
- in late July and early August
- at the end of summer, from the third decade of August to mid-September
Spinach seeds are sown2 cm deep, in rows every 20 cm.
Spinach leaves
Fig. pixabay.com
Vegetable spinach is grown in the gardenin the second year after manure, on lighter soil, compost can be applied before sowing.Spinach grown for overwintering should be fed with ammonium nitrate in early spring after the first soil loosening. Spring and autumn spinach are first fed when the plants have 2-4 leaves and the second time after a week.
Spinach is grown without interrupting the plants, andcare treatments in the cultivation of spinach in the gardeninclude weeding, nitrogen fertilization and irrigation.
Vegetable spinach is best harvestedin the early morning or evening hours and frozen immediately or for cooking, becauselong-term storage reduces the nutritional value of spinach leaves .
Note!In vegetable spinach, nitrites, which are harmful to he alth, are formed in vegetable spinach under the influence of long-term storage at high temperatures (due to heating up). Nitrogen fertilization in the nitrate form also promotes the accumulation of nitrite.
People looking for high-qualityseeds of spinach and other vegetables to grow in the garden and plot , I recommend the store of our guide.We sell varieties of vegetables that yield profusely and are resistant to diseases and unfavorable growing conditions. By sowing these seeds you will see how easy it can be to grow vegetables in your own garden :-) To see the seeds offer, click on the image below.
MSc Eng. Joanna Białowąs
Other he althy vegetables to have in your garden:
