Spinach Winter Queen

Wintery goodness

Spinach is laden with fantastic antioxidants and is high in health benefitting carotenoids (though you can’t see them as they’re masked by spinach’s high chlorophyll content). Spinach is also a good source of vitamins, fibre and protein, so Popeye was one smart cartoon character to love this leafy green so much!

Yates® Spinach ‘Winter Queen’ is a tasty, prolific and early maturing spinach variety with large deep green leaves. It can be sown throughout Australia in June and it’s as easy as sowing a few seeds in a clump, direct where they are to grow in a sunny spot in the vegie garden. Seeds will take 1 – 3 weeks to germinate (so don’t give up on them too quickly!) and you can be harvesting leaves in as little as 8 – 10 weeks. The beauty of loose leafy vegies like spinach is that you can harvest individual leaves as you need them.

No vegie patch? Not a problem! Yates® Spinach ‘Winter Queen’ can also be grown in pots filled with a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix. Choose a sunny spot on a patio or balcony and it’s helpful to rotate the pots 180 degrees every week so that as many of the spinach plants are exposed to as much sunlight as possible.

To keep Winter Queen spinach productive and flourishing, feed each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food and pick the leaves regularly.

Here are some spinach recipe ideas to inspire you to grow this super healthy vegie:

Delicious spinach and filo spanakopita
Spinach and cheese bombs
Spinach, pumpkin and feta quiche
Spinach and basil pesto
Spinach and ricotta pull-apart

Pest watch: keep an eye out for caterpillars on your leafy greens. Caterpillars are voracious chewing pests that can devour entire plants if left to their own devices. Keep caterpillars under control with some regular sprays of ready to use Yates Nature’s Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray, ensuring you spray on both sides of the foliage as that’s where caterpillars often hide.