Last edited by CloCkWeRX on 4 Nov 2026. View history
Winter Spinach
A variety of spinach
How to sow winter spinach: Direct
Sun requirement for winter spinach: Plant in Full sun
Winterspinat Haldenstein is a rare, heirloom winter spinach (Spinacia oleracea) originating from the Alpine region of Haldenstein and Chur in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Large-leafed, slow-bolting (spät aufschiessende) winter spinach. Old-fashioned, pointy-seeded variety (belonging to the older oleracea botanical group with prickly/spiky seeds rather than modern round-seeded types).
- 0
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 0
- seed packets
Winter spinach facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
16cm × 3cmRow Spacing
20cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For winter spinach, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 2°C and a shortest growing cycle of 40 days at its best temperature, about 580 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your winter spinach will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing winter spinach
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before sowing
- Water regularly at sowing every week
- Thin the seedlings 2 weeks after sowing
- Weed between the rows 3 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Sow another batch 3 weeks after sowing every month
- Pick the outer leaves at first harvest every week
- Pull out plants that have bolted 6 weeks after first harvest
Plant winter spinach with
Jerusalem artichoke
leek
Video
What people are saying about winter spinach
Nobody has posted about winter spinach yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing winter spinach.
Who's planted winter spinach
Nobody has planted this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your winter spinach plantings.Winter spinach harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your winter spinach harvests.Find winter spinach seeds
There are no seeds available to trade on Growstuff right now.
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Spinacia oleracea L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Caryophyllidae Caryophyllales Chenopodiaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -7 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about winter spinach
Resources outside Growstuff.
