Spinach

Pests & beneficial insects

🐛 Prone to: Aphids

Aphids

Aphididae

Curled leaves, sticky honeydew and ants on patrol — usually with something already eating them.

, Leaf miners

Leaf miners

Agromyzidae

Pale trails inside the leaf — mostly harmless, and out of reach of any spray.

, Cutworms

Cutworms

Noctuidae

A seedling lying beside its own stump in the morning, cut clean through at soil level.

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Attract Hoverflies

Hoverflies

Syrphidae

The adults only drink nectar. It is the larvae that eat the aphids.

, Lacewings

Lacewings

Chrysopidae

Golden-eyed adults that mostly drink; larvae that hunt like small alligators.

, Ladybugs

Ladybugs

Coccinellidae

The one predator here where the adults hunt as hard as the larvae do.

, Parasitic wasps

Parasitic wasps

Braconidae, Ichneumonidae and relatives

Pinhead-sized, stingless, and lethal to aphids and caterpillars from the inside.

, Ground beetles

Ground beetles

Carabidae

Night-active ground hunters, taking slugs, cutworms and leatherjackets at soil level.

to keep them in check — plant InulaGreat, Purple ConeflowerGreat and African MarigoldGood nearby.

Growing from seed

Start Spinach indoors about 4 weeks before your last frost, keeping seeds in cooler soil (around 10–18 °C). Seeds usually come up in around 10 days. Move seedlings out once the danger of frost has passed, in partial sun, spaced about 10 cm apart. Expect to harvest in roughly 40 days.

Spinach seed rarely stays viable beyond 5 years — track what's still worth sowing.

• 

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  Read the guide

Companion Planting

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  Horseradish
  

  HorseradishGreat pair

  • ❧Horseradish attracts Hoverflies and Parasitic wasps, which prey on the Aphids and Leaf miners that attack Spinach
  • ❧Spinach acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Horseradish
  • ❧Horseradish gives Spinach sheltering shade in the heat of summer
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  Inula
  

  InulaGreat pair

  • ❧Inula attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids that attack Spinach
  • ❧Spinach acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Inula
  • ❧Inula gives Spinach sheltering shade in the heat of summer
• 
  Purple Coneflower
  

  Purple ConeflowerGreat pair

  • ❧Purple Coneflower attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids that attack Spinach
  • ❧Spinach acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Purple Coneflower
  • ❧Purple Coneflower gives Spinach sheltering shade in the heat of summer

How to grow Spinach

1. Sow4 weeks before frost
2. Germinates10 days
3. Space10 cm apart
4. GrowPartial sun
5. Harvest~40 days

Water: Medium · Height: 30 cm · Soil: Moist, well-draining, slightly alkaline (pH 6.5–7.0)