Garden Plant Guides

Tower Garden Grow Guide: How to Grow Spinach

Versatile, healthy, nutritious, and delicious, Tower Garden spinach is packed with vitamins, nutrients and flavor!
GROWING INFORMATION
Spinach
DIFFICULTY
3 out of 5 leaves
TIME TO HARVEST
2-3 weeks
INDOOR VS OUTDOOR
Both
BEST TOWER POSITION
Top

Why We Love Spinach

A mainstay in salads, stir-fries and so many other dishes, spinach is one of the most popular, greens to grow with Tower Garden. Not only is it an excellent source of vitamins K, A, C, and folate, it also helps toward our recommended daily intake of manganese, magnesium, iron, and vitamin B2. With plentiful harvests, this leafy green is the gift that keeps on giving.

Download the Spinach Grow Guide PDF.

Varieties 

  • Savoy Spinach – Wrinkly variety that features dark green, curly leaves. Boasts a slightly crunchy and crispy texture, rich in fibre. 
  • Semi-Savoy Spinach – Fast-growing spinach variety with uniform, upright dark green leaves. Less curly than Savoy, with the same crunchy texture. 
  • Smooth-Leaf Spinach – Flat-leafed variety boasting round, smooth dark green leaves.  Tolerant of high heat and has a fast growth rate. 

Planting Your Seedlings

What You’ll Need

View more information on starting your seeds.

  1. Germinate your seeds. This step can be challenging with spinach, and may not happen for up to 2 weeks. Spinach seeds should be ready for transplant (about 2–3 weeks) when they have a good root system growing from the rock wool cubes. 
  2. Place one seedling cube into each net pot on your Tower Garden Growing System. We recommend planting spinach near the top of your Tower Garden.
  3. Gently press the seedling cube until it touches the base of the net pot. 

Growing Conditions

Temperature:  2 - 24° C

Light exposure and watering cycle can be controlled by our digital timer, but for manual reference:

Light

For outdoor – minimum 6-8 hours of full sunlight daily

For indoor – set grow light timer for 14-16 hours on, 8-10 hours off

Watering Cycle

Please set the Tower timer to “O” for outdoor growing or “I” for indoor growing.

Maintenance & Pest Prevention

  • Check water and pH levels at least weekly.
  • Keep roots away from pump.
  • If not in full sun when outdoors, rotate garden regularly for even growing.
  • Clean pump monthly.
  • Check regularly for pests.
  • Remove dead plant debris.
  • Destroy diseased plant material.

More information on Tower Garden maintenance is here, as well as extra help for pests and troubleshooting.

Harvesting 

  • You can harvest spinach as soon as the leaves are big enough to eat. 
  • Cut the outer leaves first to encourage continued production.
  • Regular harvests will extend your plant’s life cycle. 
  • If you notice signs of bolting (e.g., sudden vertical growth), harvest the entire plant to prevent the remaining leaves from becoming bitter.

Ways to Enjoy

  • Nutritious Salads – Spinach makes for an excellent salad base. Use spinach to elevate your favourite salads, or follow along with these delicious Tower Garden salad recipes. 
  • Spinach Pesto – Experiment with this unique take on traditional pesto. Swap basil for spinach to achieve a delicious, nutritious pesto sauce with a great, fresh taste. 
  • Sautéed Sides – Looking to take your main course up a notch? Simply sauté your spinach on the stovetop with a pinch of salt and pepper. Take this recipe one step further and follow the Tower Garden Simple Sautéed Spinach recipe. 

Looking for more recipes and kitchen inspiration? Check out Let’s Cook.