In our opinion, spinach is one of the best crops to grow indoors due to its compact size and preference for cooler temperatures, just like herbs. No matter what time of year it is, your house likely has the perfect conditions for getting an abundant crop of spinach. Add to this the reduced risk of bolting and the lack of pests, growing spinach indoors is a winning choice.
In this guide, we’re going to share our tips on how to successfully grow spinach indoors.
Contents
What You Need To Grow Spinach Indoors
From our experience, to get the most out of your spinach, you need to get the following things right:
- Choose the Right Container: We’d recommend opting for pots that are at least 15-20cm deep and have really good drainage to prevent root rot. We’ve found that a pot with a 30cm diameter provides a good crop, typically allowing for 3 plants to grow.
- Use Quality Potting Mix: We’d recommend choosing a rich, well-draining organic potting mix to give your spinach enough nutrients to thrive on your windowsill.
- Pick a Bright Location: Spinach requires at least 4 hours of light per day, so we’d recommend putting your pots on a sunny window or using grow lights.
How To Plant Your Indoor Spinach
Much like other vegetables that you grow indoors, spinach seeds need to be planted in pre-moistened soil and kept well watered to help them to grow quickly. We’d recommend following these 5 simple steps to help your spinach germinate.
- Prepare the Soil: Fill your container with potting mix, and pre-moisten the soil with a little bit of water. You ideally want the soil to be slightly damp to the touch, but not completely waterlogged.
- Sow the Seeds: Plant your seedlings by pushing them about half a centimetre bellow the surface of the soil and cover them over.
- Germination and Growth: To help your seeds germinate and start to grow, place your pot by a sunny window or under your grow light and leave them for about a week for the seeds to sprout.
- Water Regularly: You need to water your soil every few days to keep your spinach growing. We’d recommend only watering when the top centimetre of soil feels dry, so that your plants aren’t kept too wet.
- Thin Seedlings: When the seedlings are a few centimetres tall, remove the weakest looking ones so that the remaining seedlings are about 10 centimetres apart to prevent them from competing against each other.
Harvesting Your Spinach
After around 5 weeks your spinach should be tender and ready to eat. You can harvest it by either cutting the entire plant, or just picking the outer leaves, letting the centre continue growing. To keep a steady supply of spinach, we’d recommend planting a pot of spinach every week or so to make sure you don’t have to buy any from a shop.
If you leave your spinach too long after 5 weeks, it’ll likely have started to flower, reducing the taste of your produce. If this happens, we’d recommend that you pull up the plant and sew a fresh seed to replenish your supply.
Conclusion
By following this guide, you’ll be able to enjoy fresh, homegrown spinach all year round. If you’d like to grow more than just spinach inside, then check out our complete guide to growing vegetables indoors. Alternatively, have a look at our advice on picking the best containers for your space.
