Everyone knows palak is green and leafy. Numerous vitamins and minerals are included in it. You can grow spinach at home if you wish to consume it frequently. Growing spinach at home can be more convenient than purchasing it from the store if you want to consume it frequently.
This leafy green superfood contains vitamins A, B, and C, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, and many other nutrients. The health advantages of this superfood have long been known. Along with all the other nutrients, it also includes Vitamin K, and folate that are vital minerals in the leaves. Additionally, they have anti-cancer antioxidants too.
You can boil spinach leaves to make curries or consume them raw as salad greens. Common spinach is simple to produce indoors from seeds or plants. Additionally, you may harvest it year-round to ensure a consistent supply.
How To Grow Palak At Home?
Despite being a cool-weather crop, spinach may be cultivated year-round, except in the sweltering summer months. A batch of spinach plants can be harvested in as little as 40–45 days after they are sown. Read along to know the necessary conditions for growing spinach entirely organic.
Requirements:
- Basic gardening and watering equipment, including pruning shears, a gardening trowel, a fork and cultivator, a watering can, and a pressure sprayer, are needed to cultivate spinach.
- Use a bag, pot, or any other container that can be used to produce spinach.
- A batch of pH 6.5 to 7.0 soil that drains well.
- Seeds from a reliable supplier.
- 10°C to 22°C.
- Full sun to light shade.
Step By Step Guide To Grow Palak On Your Balcony, Terrace, Or House
- Fill a suitable container with organic, healthy, well-drained soil/potting mix free of weed seeds and pathogens. To prevent seeds from moving deeply when watered, sway the grow bag or pot to eliminate extra air pockets and lightly squeeze the soil. If you plan to plant them in rows, use a gardening fork to make straight rows.
- Use a watering can or hose pipe with a shower nozzle to thoroughly water the soil. When watering without a nozzle, holes are created, which forces the seeds deep into the ground. Additionally, it results in an uneven soil surface. Until they sprout, keep the grow bag or pot in partial shade. By carefully controlling the soil's moisture content, you may even put them in full sun.
- You might observe the germination in 10–14 days. Once all of the seeds have germinated, remove the weak seedlings and shift the healthy seedlings to another one if the container is too full. Water them only when the top inch of soil is a little dry from now on.
- When properly cared for, spinach leaves will be ready for harvest in 40–45 days.
- If you want to get a few (two or three) more harvests from them, you can now pluck them completely or trim or pinch the leaves above soil level.
Read More: Easy-To-Grow Sweet And Spicy Pepper Varieties To Plant In Your Kitchen Garden
Tips For Growing Spinach With Care
- Regularly inspect your plants to spot the early warning signs of illnesses and pest infestations. Remove any weak or diseased plants (if there are one or two), as they are home to pests and pathogens that cause disease.
- To help plants grow healthily, remove any leaves in close touch with the ground.
- After a month of planting, you can fertilise them (optionally) with any low-concentration fertiliser, such as vermicompost, which provides nutrients that are soluble in water to promote healthy growth.
- Because they compete with spinach plants for the soil's available water and nutrients, weeds slow down growth and remove them frequently.
- To lower the risk of pests and illnesses, keep the foliage dry.
- When harvesting spinach leaves, take care not to harm the growth point or root of the plant. To increase the number of spinach harvests, trim or pinch the leaves one or two inches above the ground.
How To Harvest Palak?
It takes six to eight weeks for spinach plants to grow; however, harvesting them should be done carefully because their roots are often injured. You can harvest the entire plant at once or cut or pick off individual leaves.
Unless you prefer young spinach, when the leaves are more sensitive, if you are picking, take the outer leaves from the plant every few weeks and wait for the interior leaves to mature before plucking those as well. Cut the spinach plant by the base if you would rather harvest the entire plant. Whatever your preference, don't wait too long. When harvesting spinach, remember that the larger the leaves get, the more bitter they taste.