Spinach thrives in a rather cool climate and attains its best
development in the Middle South, where it can be grown in the open
ground during the winter. Large areas are grown near Norfolk, Va.,
cuttings being made at anytime during the winter when the fields are
not frozen or covered with snow. When the weather moderates in the
early spring the plants make a new growth, and a large crop of early
greens is available. North of the latitude of Norfolk, spinach can be
planted in the autumn and carried over winter by mulching with straw
or leaves. Sow the seeds in drills 1 foot apart at the rate of 1 ounce
to 100 feet of row or 10 to 12 pounds to the acre. To produce good
spinach, a rich loam which will give the plants a quick growth is
required. As ordinarily grown, it occupies the land during the autumn
and winter only and does not interfere with summer cultivation. It is
an easily grown garden crop, and there is, perhaps, no other of its
kind that will give as good satisfaction. Three or four ounces of seed,
planted in the autumn after a summer crop has been harvested from the
land, will produce an abundance of greens for the average family during
the late autumn and early spring. In gathering spinach the entire
plant is removed rather than merely cutting off the leaves. The larger
plants are selected first, and the smaller or later ones are thus given
room to develop. No thinning is required if this plan of harvesting is
practiced.--(F. B. 255; Mich. E. S. 20; U. Id. E. S. 10; N. C. E. S.
132.)