Spinach "America"

Spinach "America".
High-yielding variety for spring and winter crops.
Spinach contains 37-72 mg% of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), up to 4 mg% of carotene (provitamin A), as well as vitamins B1, B2, K, P, E, folic acid.
Spinach is bred for young (rosette) leaves. They contain 7.5-10% dry matter, including 2-4% protein and amino acids, up to 1.4%.
1,0 g = 90-100 seeds.

Preparing seeds for sowing.
The seed material is calibrated - larger and more valuable seeds are selected. Before sowing, they are soaked for 1.5-2 days at a temperature of +15+20°C.
Water is taken by volume 2 times more and changed several times. When the seeds swell, they must be slightly dried so that they do not stick together.
Site preparation and sowing seeds in the ground.
Spinach is an early maturing, cold-resistant plant (seedlings tolerate short-term frosts) and quite high-yielding,
but needs soil rich in organic matter with a pH of 6.5-7.5. Spinach is grown both in open and protected ground. Quite high yields are obtained on loam.
Sandy soils require abundant watering. It is not recommended to sow spinach on heavy, wet soils. For its cultivation, sunny, wind-sheltered areas are selected.
The predecessors of spinach cannot be scorzonera, table and leaf beets, head lettuce.
Immovability (i.e. placement in one place for two years) will not do him any good either. Spring spinach can be sown after all the vegetables that clear the bed early. Autumn and winter spinach is grown after all the vegetables that have already been harvested in August and early September.
Spinach is used as a precursor to heat-loving late vegetable crops and as a compactor among other vegetables, such as peas or beans, as well as in-row spacing.
A bed for spinach should be prepared in the fall, then the necessary dose of manure is applied. When digging into the soil, 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium per 1 sq. m, hold
liming. In early spring, 20 g of urea per 1 m2 is added under the rake. It is not recommended to introduce fresh organic matter - it negatively affects the taste of the leaves.
Spinach tolerates liming well, which can be carried out just before sowing. Potassium and phosphorus are introduced under the previous crop,
and for spring spinach, during autumn tillage. Spinach tolerates chlorine, so you can use a chlorine fertilizer underneath without hesitation.
The rate of nitrogen fertilizers should not exceed 8 g per 1 sq. m, of which 5 g of nitrogen is applied after germination.
It is not worth exceeding this dose, as the number of nitrates in spinach leaves can exceed the permissible level, which is dangerous to health.
In the spring, when preparing a site for spinach, add a bucket of humus and a tablespoon of nitrophoska per 1 sq. m. To constantly get fresh leaves at the table,
sowing is carried out in several stages with a 2-3-week interval (from April to June).
There are three periods of spinach cultivation: spring, autumn and winter.
Spring spinach is harvested in late May - early June, autumn - from late September to December, and winter - in April and May.
Spinach is sown as early as possible, around April 15-20 and before winter (the second or third decade of October). Seeds germinate at +3+4°C, seedlings tolerate frosts down to -8°C.
The most favourable temperature for the growth and development of spinach is + 15 + 18 ° C and daylight hours last 12-15 hours.
With long daylight hours, high air temperature and lack of moisture, spinach plants shoot quickly.
On the beds, the plants are placed in a tape way, 3-4 rows in a tape at a distance of 20 cm from each other, between the tapes there should be 50-60 cm.
Seeds are placed as infrequently as possible, as with thickened sowing, plants bloom quickly.
In summer, late varieties are sown in a multiline way, like watercress, at the rate of 4 g per 1 sq. m. Seeds close up to a depth of 2 cm.
Before sowing, they are soaked and stored under a wet cloth until a single pecking. This speeds up the emergence of seedlings by several days.
After sowing, the earth is lightly tamped, then watered and covered with burlap, and on top with a film (at a height of 20 cm from the garden). After 3-4 days, the burlap is removed.
Care, watering and fertilizing.
When seedlings appear, the rows are thinned out, leaving 7-8 cm between plants. When the plants begin to crowd each other, thin out a second time so that the distance between them does not exceed 15 cm. The uprooted plants are used for food.
The spinach plant is dioecious. Male specimens are less leafy and should be removed from crops.
Care consists of weeding, loosening the soil, top dressing and regular watering. When the soil dries, spinach plants quickly throw out the stem and the quality of the leaves deteriorates. Spinach is very demanding on moisture, especially in dry weather, when the risk of flowering plants increases.
Therefore, in hot weather, it must be watered abundantly (10-20 litres per 1 sq. M), and with weak growth, it should also be fed with minerals and only nitrogen
(10-15 g of urea per 1 sq. m) with fertilizers. Potassium and phosphorus are undesirable since they contribute to the shooting of plants.
Constantly kill weeds so that they do not drown out young plants. Very useful and loosening. Especially carefully loosen the soil around the winter spinach so that the vegetation
started as soon as possible. Spring and autumn spinach is fed with nitrogen (3 g per 1 sq. m.) a month after germination, and winter - in the spring, at the beginning of the growing season.
In a snowless winter, spinach crops should be covered with spruce branches from freezing.
Harvesting.
They begin to collect spinach selectively when the plants have 3-4 leaves, and in the full phase - with an increase of 6-7 leaves.
When flower stalks appear, the leaves should not be eaten. Cut spinach leaves cannot be stored for a long time, they must be consumed immediately.
Large leaves of young plants that have not yet formed stems are used for food. Spinach can be eaten 20-30 days after germination.
The leaves are harvested regularly, starting with the outer ones. Petioles need to be broken off, not torn off the stem. More than half of the leaves should not be collected from one plant.
The harvest period is lengthened if it is carried out regularly and no more than a few leaves are harvested from the plant.

Eng.: Spinach. Suom.: Pinaatti. Sven.: Spenat.