Spinach
Spinacia oleracea · Amaranth family
Plant portrait
Spinach forms a clump of oval to triangular leaves. Their surface may be smooth or crinkled depending on the variety; the foliage is the harvested part.
Harvested part
The leaves.
What to watch for
Watch new leaves form at the centre of the clump and expand. An extending flower stem signals bolting; the harvest model shows a plant still grown for its leaves.
Growth stages of the spinach
Plotilo illustrates the spinach in 5 stages in 3D: seed, small sprout, young plant, growing and harvest. The models show typical shapes; they do not predict how long growth takes.
- Seed
Starting from a seed. It is shown on the surface to make it visible in this illustration.
- Small sprout
A short first stem and its first small leaves emerge.
- Young plant
The young plant carries more leaves and starts to take its own shape.
- Growing
Leaves and stems develop. Their shape depends on the species.
- Harvest
An illustration of the harvested part. Roots are made visible for clarity; this image does not confirm actual maturity.
Same botanical family
Same botanical family as the spinach (the amaranth family): the beetroot, the chard and the garden orache. Gardeners usually avoid growing the same family in the same spot several years in a row: that is the idea behind crop rotation.