Harvesting Spinach in March

 My fall crop of Olympia Spinach (Pacific Northwest Seeds) was seeded in small pots last August 1^st.  After four weeks they were transplanted into the finished snap pea part of the old bean bed.  Fall Spinach and Lettuce  They were interspersed with Encore Lettuce Mix (Johnny’s Seeds) and were nicely established in the bed by fall  

In late October, just after the tomatoes were finished in the greenhouse, I Rolled the greenhouse Can I Move? one set of beds south in the garden, in line with my next year’s rotation.  The greenhouse cleared the lettuce and spinach without any damage.  The two crops were now in the greenhouse for the winter. Well, almost.  Each bed is 12.5 feet long but the greenhouse is only 12 feet.  I forgot to anticipate that and so lost one row of spinach to the greenhouse sitting on it.

We got only two modest pickings from the lettuce that fall as well as two cuts of spinach before the frosts came and stopped everything.  (this year I’ll start my spinach and lettuces a week earlier, about July 24^th.)  The frosts killed the lettuce as expected but left the spinach.  

We had a good supply of frosts during the winter months but only one 7-day long Cold Snap -- in the second week of February, with the lowest high of -3.5°C and lowest low of -8.4°C – a nice mild snap.  Up until that cold snap the spinach had survived quite well and since I had everything to gain, I covered the spinach with a foot of stockpiled maple leaves. 

 

The leaves came off as soon as the snap was over and now the spinach is ripe for another cutting.  I harvest the leaves individually with a scissor.  There will be more coming.

Happy Gardening.