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"perpetual spinach"

• Message 1. 

  Posted by springfieldbean (U14520014) on Tuesday, 8th February 2011

  Hello, I've got a question about some seeds I just picked up at Seedy Sunday: Spinach beet - Perpetual Spinach.
  
  They're going to go straight outside, and I wondered when the earliest is I can sow them?
  
  Also, I've been warned that they can take over. My garden is tiny - should I be thinking about sowing them in a container to stop them getting unruly?
  
  Thanks for any help,
  Springfieldbean

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by northwards (U14324094) on Tuesday, 8th February 2011

  Spinach beet is great stuff - it's a lot easier to grow than real spinach and will stand pretty well into the winter
  
  I don't know what the warning about "taking over" was about - that is a non-problem! This is a biennial vegetable so it won't usually set seed until its second year. Sometimes it will run to seed in its first year but you can hoick it out if it does. It's no more a threat to your garden than lettuce is!
  
  As to when to sow - depends on where you are. Maybe April to be safe? It's quite a hardy vegetable but all the same it likes to be sown when it's not too cold.Do you know when you'd normally plant chard? Spinach beet is very similar and would be OK to go in at the same time

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by springfieldbean (U14520014) on Tuesday, 8th February 2011

  Excellent, thanks northwards.
  
  Hmm, well I've not actually grown chard before, so I can't go by when I'd plant that. I'm in the south though, so I might get away with March, I'll see how it feels.
  
  
  
  

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by jo4eyes (U13654107) on Tuesday, 8th February 2011

  Agree with it standing weather well. Have only just removed last years plants- I need the space for something else. The baby leaves were good to eat in salads & even the older/bigger leaves easy to 'wilt' down for meals.
  
  I always sow my crops/plants in modules before hardening off & planting out. This is because my garden is 'slug heaven', so seedlings dont survive!
  
  It would be fine in a container I would think.
  I'd use a soil based compost eg JI3 if you plan to keep the plants going a whole season. That way there'd be more nutrients than just MP. J.

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