07/25/2012
THE SEED OF THE DAY FOR MID-SUMMER AND FALL PLANTING – Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach –
http://www.landrethseeds.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4725
Of all the vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs you can plant in the fall, Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach may very well be the easiest with one big BUT! Do not plant this seed too soon. Spinach likes it cool or cold. The seeds do not like to germinate if their soil temperature is above 70 degrees, so for Hardiness Zones 3-5, don’t begin to plant spinach until the middle to end of August. In Zones 6-7, you can start to plant in mid-September, and in Zones 8-10, I would not start planting until the end of October. The soil must be below 70 degrees to get good germination. Bloomsdale is near and dear to Landreth because in 1826, the Landreth Seed Company introduced the variety. Since 1826, it has remained one of the most popular spinach varieties sold and one of the most popular vegetable varieties ever developed. It is a true and venerable American heirloom, but it is also a rugged little guy. In Zones 5-7, if you protect the plant with some straw in the winter, during most winters it will survive and continue to produce until spring when, with the heat, it will rapidly go to seed. In Zones 8-10, it can only be grown in the winter. Last year, in our Zone 4 garden, the Bloomsdale Longstanding spinach made it through the winter without protection. We were harvesting and eating spinach in January after digging through a light layer of snow to get to it. Unfortunately, in most Zone 4 winters, even Bloomsdale would not survive the cold. Bloomsdale does very well in pots. A small, 6-inch pot will hold one plant, an 8-inch pot will hold 2 plants and a 12-inch pot can hold 5 plants – enough to feed a family of four fresh spinach once or twice a week. Next January, as you sit down to a dinner of fresh spinach salad, just think, “This spinach variety is 187 years old and it was MADE IN AMERICA!!”
