Hey Woody! I like Kirk Mellish too! He's great! My thoughts on growing spinach... well, I did it last year, and I was not impressed with my results. I did harvest some, but for the work involved in getting it clean -- it didn't seem worth it. Now you may have a lovely crop and be very happy with it -- I hope so! But, just in case you end up like I did, may I recommend the GIANT tub of organic baby spinach at Sam's Club? It is cheap and very nice -- pre-cleaned. Just in case!!!!! :)

I took Farmer Dilla's advice and planted the Bordeaux variety of spinach and have had beautiful plants all winter. We tented our garden, and it did well. Low germination typical of plants in this family, but DELICIOUS! I am just turning over some areas of the garden and fertilizing and will plant more seeds. I think I will use some plastic cloches to help heat the soil and aid germination. The soil is still very chilly when I turn it - possibly too cool for germination of the beet family seeds. I am however seeing great germination from some of the cilantro that didn't come up in fall!! :) If the weather is going to get below 30 or so, I simply cover my plants like spinach. My quickie cover is to use small stakes (or break the longer cheap ones in half) to hold up old sheets and then cover the old sheet with some plastic weighed with rocks. Works super and holds plants well. If it's going to be below 24, I get the remay back out and use it with plastic as it holds temperatures better than the sheets.

spinach is good but,chard is a great cool weather crop, or plant beets, the baby greens are so good. For later, try Malabar spinach, not a true spinach, it's a prolific climber (so it's cleaner), loves the heat, and does not leave that funny feeling with your teeth. The germination could be 2 weeks, but get ready to give some away.

I love to eat spinach.. I came to know this from the cartoon series.

I thought I posted a response earlier in the week, but I don't see it. So I guess I didn't. Anyway, thanks for all the comments.

I haven't seen any little shoots of green yet, but here's to hope!

As long as you can get germination, spinach and beets are not overly affected by frost or even a light freeze. Fall planting is a problem because the soil temps are too high for good germination. By the time the soil temps drop to an acceptable range, the short daylight hours inhibit growth. That said spinach does reasonably well here, especially early spring. You can get a bit of a jump by starting in a cold frame and transplanting.
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