102 COOL SEASON CROPS 



is resumed in spring, the crop is harvested and sent to market. 

 Still farther South, spinach may be grown and harvested in mid- 

 winter. Formerly it was quite an important crop for hotbed and 

 coldframe culture at the North, but now the winter market is 

 supplied with the shipped-in product from the South. 



Spring and Fall-sown Crops Contrasted. — When grown as a 

 spring-sown crop, spinach is usually planted in drills about a 

 foot apart, and given thorough tillage until the crop is nearly 

 ready to harvest. It is not customary to thin the seedlings. The 

 fall-sown crop is often seeded broadcast on rich, carefully prepared 

 land, and given no tillage whatever after the seed is planted. 

 Sometimes the seed is sown along with timothy when a new 

 meadow is being started. The spinach is cut so early in spring 

 that it does not interfere with the growth of the grass. 



Spinach demands rich soil, and especially an abundance of 

 nitrogen. For this reason, on some soils it responds remarkably 

 to top dressings of sodium nitrate. 



Spinach does not grow well unless it has an abundance of 

 moisture. It should therefore be planted in moist soil at a time 

 when rainfall is abundant or where artificial watering can be given. 

 In wet seasons and cool weather it makes a luxuriant growth of 

 almost perfect foliage; but when the weather is hot and dry, it 

 is not only stunted by the unfavorable weather conditions, but 

 also seems much more subject to insect attacks. It is thus almost 

 impossible to produce good spinach when the weather is hot and dry. 



Method of Harvesting. — As soon as the spinach plant has 

 formed a nice rosette of big succulent leaves it is ready to harvest. 

 Usually the entire plant is taken. It may be pulled, but the more 

 usual method is to cut the tap-root about one-half inch below the 

 surface of the ground. In the home garden, the plants are cut 

 with a knife, the largest being taken first, and the smaller ones 

 being left to grow. In gathering a commercial crop of spinach 

 grown in drills, the plants are sometimes cut by means of a wheel 

 hoe. In this case all the plants in the row are harvested at the 

 same time, regardless of variation in size of individual plants. 



There are two distinct types of spinach, the round seeded and 

 prickly seeded. Hand sowing of the latter is a painful operation, 

 for the prickles are very sharp. However, the prickly seeded type 

 is preferred for fall sowing because it is hardier. For spring 

 sowing in the home garden, the round seeded type is the more 

 satisfactory. 



