I see nothing wrong with your idea and I fully understand your eagerness to get started gardening. Spinach will germinate well at normal room temperatures and you can set out the plants in very early spring.

To satisfy my gardening urge I planted shallot seeds in trays a little over a week ago and have a lot of perky littlle seedlings growing now.

Jim

I have direct sowed some spinach couple of weeks ago.
Today I checked, they are starting to germinate. I planted some last fall but nothing grew. I think it was too late or the seeds were bad. The type that I have planted are Korean type. From the picture on the package it looks like to have thicker leaves. This will be my first growing spinach. Hopefully I can mix them in my lettuce ,red radish, aurugula and kale salad greens.

Spinach is a fair transplant. You can start them 3-4 weeks before your last frost date and transplant at last frost date. Further direct plantings will extend your harvest.

I usually start my spinach in the colder months in a windowsill, and then move outdoors after true leaves appear. Then move to direct seeding for succession planting after last frost.

Spinach is one of the first crops I direct sow. It handles cold alot better than heat. In fact, if I want a fall crop, I have to shade it to keep soil temps low enough for germination to work. Spring transplants that have been hardened off can go in a few weeks before the last frost date. If I don't get mine in early, it bolts with the heat before I get to harvest much.

Actually zone 6 here. If the snow were gone, I'd have already direct sown spinach (and parsley), and I'll do so the minute it is gone. Here spinach is long gone (bolted) before the last frost date.

I tried transplanting spinach one year and found it wasn't really worth the effort. Unless you are planting into a cold frame and hoping for the earliest outdoor spinach you can possibly muster, I wouldn't bother. Direct seeded spinach is great because it grows with little supervision at a time of year when gardening is it's busiest.

Michael

I agree with Lacey - we will be direct seeding spinach this week so I wouldn't waste my time starting it indoors this late. Instead pick something that can't go into the garden for 5-6 weeks.

Dave