Spinach plants from the garden centre

amandstu

I have bought some small spinach plants in a tray of small plastic tubs (6 tubs to the tray).

In each little tub (a little over 1 cubic inch in volume ) there are about 4 or 5 little spinach plants ( a bit bigger than seedlings).

I have planted these out into a bed I had prepared. Should I thin these clusters of small plants or will they grow along together quite happily?

Whenever I sow spinach by seed I always thin them out but from the look of what I have bought from the garden centre it seems like there may be other ways of growing spinach as groups of up to half a dozen plants very close together .

Will that work or will I have to thin them to one or two plants once they have become established?

looksee

It depends on how you want to use them. If you want young spinach for salads then leave them in groups, you will have used them before they get big enough to be overcrowded. If you want mature large plants then thin them to one or two. Its an expensive way to grow spinach (or any other vegetables really).

amandstu

looksee wrote: »

It depends on how you want to use them. If you want young spinach for salads then leave them in groups, you will have used them before they get big enough to be overcrowded. If you want mature large plants then thin them to one or two. Its an expensive way to grow spinach (or any other vegetables really).

Thanks. I buy a few "ready made" veggie plants as a way of making an earlier start as I don't have a greenhouse of my own. I have a few rows of seeds in the ground also and these will come on later...

Also some of the spinach varieties only work with me this way as they are very vulnerable to bolting (don't we know it ? )

rolion

I guess we got the same plant.
Move it in to a another container but kept the plant together,as the roots were too close in to each other and the risk of compromising the whole plant were bigger.

amandstu

rolion wrote: »

I guess we got the same plant.
Move it in to a another container but kept the plant together,as the roots were too close in to each other and the risk of compromising the whole plant were bigger.

My idea is to let them grow on a bit and then snip them at soil level without disturbing the roots,leaving one or two to grow on .

I know beetroots are said to be happy to grow as a group of 3 or 4
but I don't want these fellas to bolt.

I cannot grow the "round seed" spinach from seed and had given up on sowing them until tried buying them from the garden centre (effectively) piggybacking on the use of their greenhouse and climatic conditions.