Spinach year round?

Dear Gardeners,
I've been pouring over the collected vegetable tips in "The big black binder" which is a new addition to our DIGS collection of gardening articles. Thanks to Jim for putting the best articles together in one place!!
Always a big spinach lover, I was attracted the article "Nearly Year Round Spinach" by Hazel Beeler which provided the following information:

Nearly Year Round Spinach

Traditionally grown as a cool weather crop in spring and fall, our milder climates can allow a year-round spinach crop using the same Reemay (polyester) agricultural fabric material for shading in the hot months and cold-protection in December and January, for an almost year round spinach harvest.

Spinach has a tendency to bolt in the hottest part of the year and there are three factors in bolting: Day-length, the plant's age, and temperature.
We can adjust the timing of when to plant seeds, and day-length is beyond our control, but we can do quite a bit to help shade and protect spinach using agricultural fabric such as Reemay.

Over our 4'x16' raised beds we build canopies of Reemay using six 18 inch stakes, one at each corner, and two at the side mid-points. The stakes have twine wrapped at the top, and the Reemay is attached with clothespegs which can be easily removed for watering, weeding, and harvesting.

In hot weather, keep the spinach under the canopy moist at all times, and although it will eventually bolt in the hottest weather, the shading slows bolting down considerably. Keep sowing new plants, and pulling old ones to control the age of the plants to delay bolting.

New seeds will not germinate well about 70 degrees F, so you can sow them indoors where it is cooler, and often, using damp paper towel is a quick way to get a cool start to a small number of germinating seeds for successive plantings.

Summer won't produce HUGE leaves as the spring and fall spinach, but the taste will still be very satisfying.

The same Reemay covers can be draped over the beds directly, and weighted with stones or boards, to protect the spinach to below zero. Where winters are very mild, spinach will withstand temperatures that hover around zero, or above, and can even revive after being openly snowed upon (as they did for us at DIGS last winter!)

Fall crops planted in September can be harvested into December.
Winter crops planted in November will stop growing and then restart as daylight hours lengthen in the new year.
Spring seeding can be started very early indoors, and then planted out.
[end article added to by Jen and originally based on (Sept/Oct 2007) issue - Back Home Garden Magazine.)



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Note: There are also varieties of chard that are handy substitutes for true spinach with slightly different flavours and colours, as well as heat-tolerant New Zealand Spinach (not a true spinach by a good substitute) for those who wish to try it alongside their true spinach.

Please use the COMMENTS below and let us all in on your tales of spinachio! :>)