Don’t Skip These Fall Greens — Small‑Space Friendly + Ready Fast.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Sow Arizona. This is going to be my last video in my series for starting fall seeds. And if you want to go back and review some of the videos that I did previously, I will link them in the description below. And I will also pin a comment so that you can see that first thing when you go down to the comments section. And just to make sure that you have what you need, I'm also going to link my plant starting guide. I have got every season in this guide. It's a digital copy so you can look at it on your phone or on your tablet or on your computer, wherever you are for your convenience. But it will just help keep you on track from season to season. And it's a super simple seed starting guide to follow. Today we are going to do a couple of leafy greens. And these leafy greens are ones that I actually promised to do the first week of August. So I am sorry for the delay in the video. Life gets a bit busy sometimes, but here we are. And you still have plenty of time. So let's just jump right into it. The first one that I want to talk about is spinach. Spinach is a really, really fast maturing crop that you can grow. It'll grow well in flower pots. It will grow well in raised buds. You can throw it out into the garden and it grows well there. So it's really not very picky as long as it has a big enough pot to accommodate its roots. And we'll talk about that in just a few minutes. But for Dave's determination, you're looking at around 30 or so. Some of the seed packets I have here say as little as 28, which is amazing. And of course that's going to be for baby spinach, not for the nice big leaves that you can get in a bunch at the grocery store. But that is a pretty quick turnaround, really. That's like within a month from seed to your bowl, you can have some baby spinach, which is amazing. So if you are looking to grow something in a small space, or if you're looking to grow something really fast to try to get some nutritious food into your kitchen, spinach is a really, really good one that you can try. I want to talk first about when you can start spinach. So between the beginning of August and mid to late October, you can start those seeds in the house. And then you can set those out between mid-September and you can plant spinach that late in our spring here in Southern Arizona, just because it is such a quick maturing crop. When it comes to transplanting your seedlings outside, it kind of matches up with when you can sow seeds outside. So you can sow seeds or transplant your seedlings outside between mid-September and January. I know it sounds really crazy to think about planting a cool weather crop like spinach so close to spring when our temperatures are starting to warm up just a bit, but because it only takes about 28 days at minimum, and I think around 60 days if you want to let the spinach grow to full size, you definitely have time for that. So start the seeds between August and October, and then you can transplant those seedlings out or sow more seeds directly in your garden between mid-September and January. So those are the time frames that you're looking at. And I also want to talk about succession sowing. So for those of you who don't know, succession sowing is planting a round of seeds every few weeks just so that you can get a constant supply of whatever that vegetable is. And it works really, really well for cool weather things, lettuces, other leafy greens. Sometimes you can do that with root vegetables too, depending on what kind they are. But for spinach, you can get a consistent supply all the way through early, early spring if you start seeds every couple of weeks. Another way that you can get more harvest out of the same plant is by how you harvest it. And you can use the cut and come again method, just like you do with lettuces and other leafy greens. And you will just harvest around the outside of the plant and let that center rosette part of the plant just stay. And it will keep growing and regenerating for several harvests. And in the meantime, you can be starting seeds inside every couple weeks so that when those plants are finally spent, you're going to have another replacement seedling to put in its place when it's time to pull the old plant. So that's a couple different ways that you can make your spinach, or other leafy greens for that matter, go further is by succession planting. So let's go through our first round of questions. And that is, do you like spinach? Because if you don't like it, you shouldn't plant it. And that goes for anything in the garden. And I am starting to really practice that more and more here in my garden, even though I have a bigger space. I find myself even now planting things that I think are okay, and not planting more of the things that I think are just absolutely amazing. And so I have been more and more paring back and planting more of what I like and not planting what I don't like. So I'll give you an example. Kohlrabi is one of those things that I just really don't like. It's a really cool looking plant. It grows really well in the cool weather. There are a lot of people that like kohlrabi a lot, and I just don't like it. Like to me, it kind of tastes like garbage. And if you like kohlrabi, please don't be offended. It's to each their own, you know. So plant what you like. So if you like kohlrabi, you plant it. I'm going to be over here planting more of other things to utilize the space in a way that pleases me. So for our next round of questions, I want to talk about whether or not it's worth it to grow spinach. And I'm going to tell you right now that I think it's 100% worth it. I think that growing spinach rather than purchasing it in the grocery store is a lot cheaper. In the grocery store, you're looking for organic spinach around five bucks per pound. And depending on where you are shopping, you may be shopping at Whole Foods and or you may be shopping at Fry's or Sprouts or Kroger or wherever it is that you live. And so it may be cheaper or more expensive depending on that. And it'll also be a little bit cheaper for conventionally grown or non-organic versions of it. So you just have to choose what's right for you. But if you are wanting to grow spinach, it's definitely worth it when it comes to the cost. And it's also, I think, worth it for another two reasons. One is the taste. It's just so much fresher just to go outside with your bowl and to harvest what you need and leave the rest. Which leads me to my next point and that is less waste. Now I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten about a box of greens in the back of my refrigerator and then found that I had either started a science experiment or I had just a pile of mush in the back of my refrigerator. And that is always a little disappointing because I hate wasting food. But sometimes that happens. But if you're taking the bowl outside just when you need it and you are just harvesting exactly what you need, then you're not going to be wasting it or finding a slimy pile of goo in the back of your refrigerator. So I really like it for those reasons. But really, I think that fresh spinach is just unmatched when it comes to flavor. You can get a lot of really good fresh spinach at the store but it's just not as good as homegrown. And the other thing that I really like about spinach is that you can get some varieties that are a little more heat tolerant than others. And I'll talk about a couple of the varieties. I'm planting a few right now that have worked really well for me in the past and I want to share those with you too. But the next question is how many people are you growing for and how many plants do you need to plant? Because you definitely don't want to take up too much space and you really don't want to plant too little either because it's it's kind of like Goldilocks syndrome. You want to have just the right amount. But what you want to do is plant about five or so plants per person and that's just for fresh eating and that's using that cut and come again method. If you want to preserve it to eat later on then you want to double or triple that amount per person just depending on how many people you have in your household to feed. So what I like to do with spinach is blanch it and then freeze it. So you just put it in boiling water for a couple minutes then put it right away into some ice water and then you can drain it really really well. Put it into whatever container you choose and stick it in your freezer and then you can just do it just like with the bags of spinach or the blocks of spinach from the freezer section and it will taste really good. And in fact it'll taste even better in my opinion because you can choose varieties that are much tastier than what they're growing in commercial agriculture because they're probably growing less for flavor and more for shippability or for storability than they are for something that is really really delicious. So I would definitely recommend blanching and freezing some spinach. You can get quite a few bags into your refrigerator if you are just packing those ziploc bags and then laying them flat to let them freeze and then you can just stack them all up and they work really really well very space efficient. When you go to plant your spinach you want to allow about four to six inches per plant just to give it enough elbow room and if you're planting it in rows in the garden you can plant it about 12 to 18 inches apart and y'all know me you know that I'm always trying to push the amount of space that I have so I usually opt for the 12 inches and I have had good luck with that. Also last year I planted an entire packet of spinach in one of my raised beds by just loosening up the soil on the surface and then I just sprinkled the whole thing in there just evenly scattered it like I was sowing grass seed and I had the best luck with that. I had one entire raised bed just full of spinach it was my spinach garden and I would come out and just harvest away from that and I would harvest every you know day or so because I had such a big space and so many plants and I didn't have to replant that for several weeks it was really really nice so that's another great way to do it. If you're growing in a container just keep in mind that spinach has a pretty robust root system you want your container to be at least 12 inches deep to accommodate those roots. Spinach also really really likes having nice rich fertile soil and it likes to be regularly and consistently watered so keep those things in mind. If you have a problem with insects in your area getting on your spinach like maybe aphids then you can use a row cover and row covers are great for a couple different reasons so whether you're using a frost cloth or insect netting or maybe even shade cloth if you're in southern Arizona and you need to block some of that sun so you can get the last little harvest as it starts to warm up any of those things are great options for protecting your spinach from insects and also extending the season. So you want to start covering to block some of the sun and to cool that spinach when the temperatures get to be about 70 degrees or so also keep in mind that when it gets to be about 80 and the day length starts lengthening you are just not going to be able to preserve that spinach or keep it from bolting so around 80 degrees it's going to start bolting and really 10 to 12 hours of daylight is what spinach likes it's kind of the sweet spot but any longer than that and it's also going to bolt even if you're having a cooler spring if you have cooler temperatures but the day length is is getting longer then you're still going to have bolting spinach so at some point you just have to give it up you really can't extend it any longer by covering it or doing any other tricks really so just keep that in mind make sure that you're starting your seeds or your seedlings on time and that you're keeping an eye on the day length and on the temperature. There are a few varieties of spinach that I've had really good luck with the first variety I want to talk about is particularly heat tolerant as much as spinach can be. I've had the best luck with it I planted it a couple years ago for the first time and I had such great luck with it and it was really delicious and it's called Leviwa. I'm going to put the name up on the screen because I have no idea if I'm pronouncing that right. I got the seeds from Botanical Interests and it looks like they still carry them I checked that before filming this video so that one is really really good and then of course Bloomsdale is always a tried and true variety and there are three others that I want to talk about because I've tried all of these and they've been really good. What I liked about the Matador is that it provided nice smooth leaves some spinach leaves can be super crinkly and these were really smooth and easy to clean so the Matador was really nice and the second one is the Annas and so let me see what it says on this one. So it says the Anna was developed specifically for baby greens production so they're supposed to be very tender and flavorful and I can say that they are indeed all of those things and the last one is a French variety it's called Monster Spinach and I'm going to put the actual name on the screen because there's no way I'm going to be able to get that pronunciation right. So this one has really big nice tender leaves but they're really really crinkly and they call it Monster Spinach because the leaves get so big but I've had great luck with that one too. So Leviwa, Bloomsdale, Annas, Matador and then this Monster Spinach. So all of those varieties will be in the description box below for you so definitely try those out. All right so now we are moving on to bok choy and I love growing bok choy because it is so delicious and I think it is a really pretty pretty plant too. Sometimes you'll see pak choy or you'll see Chinese cabbage or bok choy so look for any of those names and you should be able to find it. I've got a couple in particular here that I'm really really excited to share with you but first let's go through all of our questions and all of our facts for how to grow bok choy. Bok choy will be started at the same time as spinach and that is between August and October if you're starting your seeds indoors. If you want to sow directly outside or move the seedlings that you started in the house earlier outside then you want to do that between mid-September and January or so. I like to succession sow my bok choy because when I come through and harvest I'm not doing the cut and come again method or harvesting around the outside of the plant I'm just harvesting the entire plant. So what I really like to do is as I'm cutting the plant I will place another seed right in its place that way I'm always having something started outside. Alternatively you can start seeds inside every couple of weeks too which works really well either way it'll keep you in bok choy for months and it's also a really really quickly maturing variety which I love about that. You're looking at days of maturity of about 30 to 60 days and I know that's a pretty big range but it's because you can harvest bok choy when it's really small like those little baby bok choys that you can cut in half and put in pho or other soups and stir fries or you can let it grow pretty big like this big and you can cut the whole thing that way and then just use it however you would use a cabbage or bok choy. So it's up to you when you want to harvest it. I've got one that is so cute and it's harvested as a baby but I'm going to make you wait for that. Let's go through our questions. The first question is do you like bok choy and if you're not sure most grocery stores have it in their produce section and you can go grab one or two and see if you like it. I think it's very similar to cabbage so if you like cabbage you'll probably like bok choy and is it worth growing versus purchasing in the grocery store and I think it is absolutely because there's so many different styles that you can get different colors and different flavors and it is always so much fresher just to harvest it right from your backyard rather than get it at the grocery store. Usually when I get it at the grocery store it's not in bad condition but it's definitely not as crisp as when I harvest it myself. So variety selection you're going to get way more if you grow it yourself. It's going to be fresher and you can just cut it when you need it and keep it going all season long if you succession sow it. So I would highly recommend that. As far as price you're looking at anywhere from about $2.50 to $4 a pound for organic bok choy again depending on where you shop. So it's certainly much more economical to grow it yourself. You can grow quite a few of these varieties in containers so if you're working with a small space this is another great variety for getting a quick harvest and getting a cheap harvest. So just keep that in mind. When it comes to how many plants you should plant per person I really disagree with the recommendations online. I saw anywhere from one to three plants per person but there's no indication of one to three plants per person per season or per week and so it really depends on your diet. If you cook a lot of Asian food a lot of stir fries then you're definitely going to want more than one to three plants per person per week in my opinion if you eat a lot of vegetables. So just look at your diet look at what you cook and then kind of decide from there. If you're growing a full-size bok choy you're obviously going to need less plants than if you are growing a small or baby bok choy and it also depends on if you plan to preserve it. So really the only way I know to preserve it is to blanch it and freeze it although I'm sure that you could probably do some sort of a ferment product like a kimchi or something like that too. I don't use that method so I can't really speak on that but if you are somebody that's a big fan of fermentation then you could maybe look up some recipes for that too because I'm sure you can use it for that. You want to plant your seedlings or your seeds about six to nine inches apart. I would say rows around 12 inches or so wide. It depends on the size of the plant so if you're doing the full size give it a bit more room if you're doing the little ones you could probably do a little less than that and if you're doing it in a container or a square foot bed then you can kind of play around with the spacing there. Bok choy is a great one if you have less than full sun exposure you can get away with around three to five hours of sun for bok choy which is really really good. It is prone to bolt if you are starting to get closer to spring and you're having cool nights and then the days are getting warmer I find that my bok choy will just bolt pretty much right away so just keep that in mind. You may be able to cover it with a bit of shade cloth and that may help extend the season a little bit but otherwise you'll just have to plant it before the days get too warm in the spring. I want to talk about the varieties that I have here but I also wrote down one other variety and I cannot promise you that I'm not butchering this name but it's called making choy. I'll put that down in the description box but I mentioned that one because it is supposed to be a lot more heat tolerant than some of the other varieties of bok choy but let's talk about heat tolerant varieties. So this Shanghai baby bok choy is one that I got from Hudson Valley Seeds and that one is supposed to be fairly heat tolerant so if you're getting a bit of a late start maybe try one of those two varieties and see if those will do a little bit better for you or you can maybe hold off on planting these and do those in the last part of the cool season if you're a little bit worried that you're going to run out of time so that's a really great one. I love that one and you harvest it when it's really small and speaking of really small y'all I think the next two are probably my favorite. This one was a free seed packet that I got from Baker Creek and I'm telling you I have gotten so many varieties that I ordinarily would not have tried from them and loved based upon their free seed packets that they will sometimes ship with their order so this one is called the He Do Tiny and when it says tiny I mean this thing is like extra extra dwarf. This thing is so small this little boy in this photo is probably I would bet maybe three or four years old and you can really see the scale of those plants and I have grown this for several years now and I can tell you that it is for sure that small. I've grown this on windowsills and I've grown it in my seed starting rack in tiny little pots and I just will go harvest a bunch of them and cook them up and then start more seeds and it has just been so yummy and so adorably cute too so definitely try the He Do Tiny and then the next one I love growing because it is so beautiful and this one is called the Purple Lady Bok Choy and it's got really bright green veins in the leaves and then it's got really dark rich purple color for the leaves so I love that one too and then the other ones are the Chaco it's also a baby it's going to get about four inches tall is when your ideal harvesting size is so I love that one and then the Baby Choy here so you can kind of see I prefer the Baby Bok Choy rather than the full size Bok Choy but if you like the big one then you go for that one there are so many good varieties I would check out Baker Creek, Botanical Interest, and Johnny's for sure although I really there are so many great seed companies I've got a list of seed companies and kind of like what they're all about what their aim is on my website it's under the resource tab so if you want to go look at those I have a little brief description of each seed company and that I've tried myself and kind of what their you know whole goal is and then you can just click right on that little picture and it'll take you to their website and then you can peruse there and none of those are affiliate links for me they're just ones that I've had good experiences with and that I think are really good companies so check that out I will put that in the description box below too so this is going to be my last seed starting video for a while so this is probably the sixth or seventh seed starting video that I've done for the fall and I think that we're pretty well prepared now for getting our seeds started like I said before if you want to get a little extra help or you want to be able to plan out seasons without having to wait for me to get my video together you can definitely check out my planting guide and I go season by season it's very straightforward and I also include a few tips for growing specific things like potatoes and onions and things like that that sometimes people have trouble with so just a reminder there are several other leafy green varieties that you can be starting for the cool weather season I haven't gone through those just because the video series has gotten a bit long and I think that by this time you all know what you're doing but those are for things like arugula and mizuna and some of the other asian greens there are so many different ones I do want to mention though for things like malabar spinach which is a kind of a spinach substitute that people will plant here in southern Arizona you're not going to be starting that until the spring I would say maybe January or so so hold off on the malabar spinach but otherwise pretty much any other leafy green that you can imagine growing in cool weather you can be starting those seeds in the house now or you can plant seeds out in mid-September all the way through January if you want to sow them directly and make sure you succession so so that you can keep those leafy green harvests coming all right I am going to finish planting out these seed trays I just realized that I forgot to bring my plant markers so I have no labels on these I'm going to have to rely on my memory for what I planted and I don't trust my memory at all while I'm talking so I think I remember but we'll have to see anyway I know what's spinach I know what's bok choy so I think I'll be okay for these I hope that this series has helped you all out and I hope that you are getting a really good plan together and getting all prepared for your fall garden please send me an email and let me know what you're planting or leave a comment below I always love knowing about new varieties or what you're planting in your garden and as always feel free to send me any questions that you have I'm Kara from Sow Arizona thank you so much for watching until next time happy gardening