Overwintering Spinach

[thepumpkin]

I sow some spinach this September and it's already growing. The idea is to overwinter collect it February - early March. A friend visiting our property recently told me we should cover it in the winter although I didn't see such thing in the instructions or anywhere. Do you have any experience with overwintering spinach? And do you cover it for the winter?

[applestar]

It depends on just how cold winter night temperatures get in your area and whether you tend to get a lot of snowfall.

Where temperstures are relatively mild -- I believe minimum of around low to mid-20's°F -- or where heavy snowfall covered the ground and doesn't melt until spring, acting as mulch, you don't need to cover. In my area, temperatures can drop down to negative single digits and snowfall is variable, the leaves can get freeze burned by the dry air.

For my area, I have read that the best way to overwinter spinach is to cover with straw and then with spun bonded fabric/floating cover, THEN plastic. Another way is to use low wire hoops to lift spun bonded fabric/floating cover over the plants, then higher hoops of heavy plastic sheeting. Tuck all edges down well with soil or heavy objects. (I believe it's best to bury the edges)

I haven't succeeded in doing this yet. I'm trying the second hoops over hoops method this winter. With cover, spinach is supposed to be able it survive 5°F to 10°F according to this guide:
https://www.southernexposure.com/growing-guides/fall-winter-quick-guide.pdf

[rainbowgardener]

I did this last year - planted spinach seed in mid October. It sprouted but did not get very big before winter shut it down. But then it took off early this year and was my best spinach crop ever. The spring planted spinach never lasts very long, tends to bolt as soon as the weather warms, but my fall planted spinach was very productive and lasted for months.

I did not cover it or do anything special, but we had a VERY mild winter here last winter. So, I have spinach planted again, that has sprouted already. If it is looking like being a worse winter this year, I may cover it. But it will take some care. If I put plastic over hoops over it, then on a sunny winter day, it could heat up a lot in there. It would like the heat less than the cold, especially while dormant. So maybe just mulch well or use slitted plastic...

That's as far as my experience takes us, because last year was my first year for doing this....

[thepumpkin]

Thanks for the responses. We occasionally get -5 - -10 F here and sometimes no snow, so sounds like I'll have to cover. We live in the mountain so straw is not exactly abundant but I'll try to find some... or use hay in the worst case.