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How To Harvest Spinach

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How To Harvest Spinach

To get the best out of your vegetable harvest, you must pick them at the right time and in the right way for a flavoursome and bountiful crop.  Tom Cole shows us how to harvest spinach. To get the best out of your vegetable harvest, you must pick them at the right time and in the right way for a flavoursome and bountiful crop. Tom Cole shows us how to harvest spinach.

Step 1: When to harvest

You can start to harvest spinach just a couple of months after sowing and on throughout the summer. This can involve cutting leaves as often as twice a week depending on rain levels, so regularly check your plants.

If cooking the spinach, wait for the leaves to reach 25-30 centemeters in length, as they will boil down dramatically. If using in a salad, you can cut the leaves when they are small and immature.

Step 2: Harvesting

With a sharp knife, cut the stem of a leaf close to the base, taking the outside leaves and leaving the majority of new growth at the centre. You are aiming to leave at least a quarter of the plant so that it will regenerate.

Step 3: Taking care

Whilst harvesting, it is worth tending to the plant. Remove any diseased leaves that have any minor pests, and place these on the compost heap.

Cut off any stems that feature flowers, as this will allow the plant to concentrate its nutrients on the leaves. These flowering parts are a little tougher, but still perfectly edible.

Step 4: Storage

Spinach is best when used fresh. It will keep for a couple of days in the fridge but will wilt quickly

If you wish to freeze, boil or steam the leaves first, then simply re-heat them when needed.

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Tips & Comments
  1. Anonymous

    this is chard not spinach

  2. kleinschmidt

    Perhaps this is a difference between US and Britain or perhaps I just am misinterpreting the images, but the plant in the video looks more like I call New Zealand spinach (beet family) rather than what in the US we call spinach (in the amaranth family).

  3. Anonymous

    thank you, that answered a lot of questions.

  4. Anonymous

    very good guide - best I've seen, clear and concise!