Grow Your Own Beet Spinach

Lesson 3: Maturing Beet Spinach

Encouraging Leaf Growth
One reason why beet spinach is a good choice for novice gardeners is that is far less likely to "bolt" (run to seed) than true spinach. When conditions are dry and sunny, true spinach can sometimes run to seed before developing any leaves that are worth eating. Beet spinach is much more forgiving in this respect but you still have to be vigilant: keep your eyes open for the formation of flowerheads, especially if the weather is dry and sunny. If you do discover any flowerheads, remove them immediately. This will encourage the plant to put its energy into growing leaves for you to eat.

Water, Water Everywhere
When you're cooking spinach it soon becomes obvious that the leaves contain a significant quantity of water. This implies that you've got to get plenty of water into the plant while it's growing. A square metre of beet spinach plants will need at least 9 litres a week in normal conditions – more if the weather is hot and dry. Using a mulch of organic material around your spinach plants will help retain moisture and make life difficult for weeds. A black plastic sheet with holes for the plants will do a similar job. If you've decided not to employ a mulching strategy, you'll need to get busy with your hoe to keep those weeds down.

Copper Protection
If you're growing beet spinach in containers, the same rules apply: watch out for flowerheads, water the plants well and keep weeds down. Slugs can threaten container vegetables as well as conventional beds. They don't mind climbing up a pot if there's a juicy meal at the end of it! Protect plants by using the methods in Lesson 2. Alternatively, you can buy copper tape that fixes just under the rim of a pot. The copper tape naturally contains a tiny electrical charge that repels slugs.

Pic: GAP Photos/Friedrich Strauss