How to Grow Male & Female Spinach
By Carrie Terry, eHow Contributor 
updated: February 16, 2011
People eat the leaves of the spinach plant, rather than its fruit, flowers or seeds.
While most vegetable plants produce self-pollinating flowers and can succeed in single plantings, spinach grows male or female plants and requires cross-pollination between the two to go to seed. While this does not affect spinach plant growth or the spinach harvest --- we eat the leaves of the plant, not its fruit --- it does affect the development of seeds. If you're growing spinach for food and seeds, plant at least two rows of the crop to guarantee both male and female plants for pollination. Spinach does best in spring or fall gardens, with cool-weather starts.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
- Hand fork
- Organic compost
- Fertilizer
- Mulch
- Start spinach in fall, after the first frost date, in U.S. Department of Agriculture growing zones 7 and up and one month before the last frost in USDA growing zones 6 and down. Spinach does best with a cool-weather start and is hardy down to 20 F. Try to sow the seeds when temperatures are between 30 F and 60 F.
- Find a site where the spinach plants will get full sun for eight hours every day during their germination and growth. This placement will differ depending on your season. Make sure that any site gets quick drainage, because spinach will suffer in standing water.
- Turn over 5 to 6 inches of soil with a hand fork in the planting site. Add 2 inches of organic compost to the tilled soil to give spinach the rich, quick-draining soil it needs. Add 10-5-10 fertilizer to the tilled soil to increase nutrition in the site.
- Plant spinach seeds at 4 to 6 inches in the row, 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. Pack the soil down firmly over each seed to help germination. Plant at least three rows, at a spacing of 10 to 12 inches, to ensure both male and female plants for seeds and to turn over a large spinach harvest.
- Water the spinach bed with 2 to 3 inches of water every week and maintain a 2-inch layer of mulch to keep the soil moist and cool. Spinach will mature for harvest and flowering in 30 to 45 days.
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