Growing Spinach in Scotland: The Complete Guide

Spinacia oleracea

Everything you need to grow spinach in Scotland, from the first spring sowing to a row standing through autumn for a spring harvest. We have done the research so you don't have to.

Spinach is worth understanding because it breaks the usual Scottish rule. For lettuce, cool summers are a straightforward advantage. For spinach, cool can be a problem. It bolts from cold as well as from heat, so a spring cold snap can trigger it just as a hot dry spell would. The trick is timing, and once you have that right, spinach is one of the most productive crops you can grow in a small Scottish garden.

Why spinach is different from lettuce

Lettuce bolts in heat. Spinach bolts in cold too, which makes it a trickier crop to time in a Scottish spring. It wants temperatures between about 15 and 20°C. Cooler than that and it can flower, warmer and it can flower. That narrow band is what catches people out.

The consequence is worth being honest about: an early March sowing that catches a cold snap in April will bolt just as surely as a July sowing in a heatwave. The late-summer sowing, from August into early autumn, is the one that works most dependably here. The plants establish in warm soil, grow steadily through the cool autumn, and if you choose a hardy variety and protect it with fleece from October onwards, they stand through the winter and give you the first fresh leaves of spring.

Spinach also prefers to be direct-sown rather than transplanted. The root disturbance from moving a young plant makes it more likely to bolt. If you do want an early indoor start, sow into individual modules so the roots are disturbed as little as possible when planting out.

Types: savoy, smooth or perpetual

Spinach comes in a few forms. The choice matters less than the sowing date but is still worth knowing.

• Savoy types have large, puckered, crinkled leaves. They are the familiar spinach for cooking, with plenty of texture. Generally a little less robust in warm weather than smooth-leaved types.
• Smooth-leaved types have flat, more upright leaves and are generally more robust. They cope better with warmer conditions and are easier to wash. If you are sowing into the shoulder seasons, a smooth-leaved type with bolt and mildew resistance is the safest bet.
• Perpetual spinach is actually a type of leaf beet, not a true spinach, but it crops for months rather than weeks and is useful if space is tight. It is grown the same way and is more tolerant of summer heat.

For Scotland, a smooth-leaved bolt-resistant variety like Mikado for the seasonal sowings covers the ground. If you want one planting that keeps going, put in a few perpetual spinach plants and they will earn their space all year.

Varieties

Mikado and Missouri are the two varieties with bolt resistance specifically noted, which is the trait that matters here. These carry the RHS Award of Garden Merit, a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one.

Also worth considering

Soil and site

Spinach wants fertile, moisture-retentive soil in sun or partial shade. Dig in plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure before sowing. If your soil is poor, rake in an organic general-purpose fertiliser too. Rake the bed to a fine, level surface. The seed is small and shallow-sown, and a lumpy seedbed gives you a patchy row.

Steady moisture is the requirement that makes the crop. Spinach has shallow roots and will bolt from drought stress faster than almost anything else in the garden. In Scotland that is less of an issue than further south, but a dry week during a warm spell is worth reaching for the watering can. A site in partial shade helps during the warmer months.

Sowing

Sow from mid to late spring for summer harvests, and from late summer to early autumn for autumn and spring harvests. Sow about 2.5cm deep in rows about 20cm apart. Sow small batches every few weeks rather than one long row. Succession is the whole trick with spinach.

Thin seedlings to about 7.5cm initially. A few weeks later, harvest every alternate plant, leaving the rest at about 15cm for final positioning. The thinnings are perfectly good to eat as baby leaves. Baby leaves are ready in as little as a month, mature leaves in about two months.

The late-summer sowing is the one to plan around here. Sow a hardy variety in August and the plants will establish while the soil is still warm, then grow steadily through the cool autumn. If it is still hot in late summer, wait. Spinach seed germinates best in cool conditions. Cover with fleece from October onwards, unless you are in a particularly mild spot. A row of spinach standing through a Scottish winter into March is one of the most satisfying things in the garden, and it costs almost nothing.

Avoid sowing too early in spring into cold soil. Early plants are especially prone to bolting. If you do want an early start, sow under cloches or fleece. Spinach is fast growing and takes up little room, so it is useful for filling short-term gaps between taller crops like sweetcorn, which provide cooling shade in warm weather.

Watering and care

Spinach is a thirsty crop and needs steady moisture. A dry spell triggers bolting, and once it starts you cannot stop it. The best time to water is early in the morning, so the plants are well hydrated for the day ahead. Water the soil, not the leaves. Wet foliage sitting overnight encourages downy mildew, which is a risk in a damp Scottish autumn.

Weeding matters because spinach cannot compete with anything that germinates next to it. Dense weeds also give slugs a place to hide and reduce air circulation, which encourages fungal problems. Keep seedlings and young plants clean. Feeding is rarely necessary if the soil was well prepared with compost beforehand.

Containers: spinach grows well in pots. Use a container at least 30cm wide and deep so the compost does not dry out too fast, and position it out of the midday sun in warmer months. Compost in pots dries out faster than soil, and dry compost means bolted spinach, so check regularly.

Harvesting

Baby leaves are ready in as little as a month. Mature leaves take about two months. Harvest in one of two ways: pick a few outer leaves from each plant along the row, and keep coming back every few weeks until the plants eventually flower. Or wait until the plants are well established after a couple of months and cut the whole crop of leaves at once, just above the base. If the roots are good, the plants should regrow at least one more harvest.

Pick in the morning, when the leaves are crisp and full of moisture. Spinach leaves wilt within hours of picking, so pick just before you plan to use them. The leaves reduce greatly in volume during cooking, so sow more than you think you need and pick generously. Winter spinach will sit through the coldest months and start growing again as the days lengthen. The first picking in March, from a row you sowed the previous August, is worth every bit of bed space it occupied all winter.

Common problems

• Bolting. The plant runs to flower and the leaves turn bitter. Triggered by cold snaps in spring as well as hot dry spells in summer. The late-summer sowing is the most reliable way around it. Once a plant has bolted, pull it and compost it.
• Slugs go for young leaves. Hoe around the row and keep the surrounding area clear so they have nowhere to hide during the day. Starting plants in modules gives them a head start.
• Downy mildew. Yellow patches on the upper leaf surface with grey mould underneath. It is worst in humid weather and on crowded plants. Good spacing so air moves between the leaves, watering the soil rather than the foliage, and mildew-resistant varieties like Mikado all reduce the risk.
• Birds and pigeons will peck at young leaves and seedlings. Cover the row with fleece or netting until the plants are established.
• Nothing coming up. Spinach germinates best in cool weather. Too hot and the seed goes dormant, too cold and it rots. Sow at the right time for the temperature: mid-spring or late summer. If a whole row fails, it is usually the temperature, not the seed.

Common questions

Sources