<p>45 days. You’ll be really impressed by Skookum’s crisp, clean flavour. Erect growth habit ensures that the dark green, semi-savoyed leaves are easily harvested, and makes this variety a natural for harvesting in the rainy months for fall, winter and spring production. Resistant to race 1, 2 and 3 downy mildew.</p><p>CULTURE: Spinach requires rich garden soil with abundant nitrogen. However, because it is usually grown at cooler times of the year, attention to providing extra nitrogen helps overcome the lethargy of soil microlife (a phenomenon related to low soil temperature). In spring, try using some fishmeal or other high nitrogen fertilizer banded beside the row, and see if your spinach doesn’t come out three times larger and much more succulent. Plant any variety after March 1st. Sow 1cm (1/2 in.) deep and about 2cm (1 in.) apart in rows at least 30cm (1 ft.) apart. Thin to 8cm (3 in.) apart in the row, or further apart if very large and well-developed individual plants are desired. After mid-April plant Mazurka, Skookum, Space or Tyee, which are all flavourful and will not bolt before they have produced a large crop in late spring or summer. Once spinach bolts, it becomes bitter and should not be eaten. Then, starting in late July and into mid-August, plant Bloomsdale Savoy, Olympia, Skookum or Tyee. Overwintered spinach needs well-drained soil. <br>DISEASE: The key to prevention is planting in fertile soil and using a four-year crop rotation. Spinach likes a fairly neutral soil, so a plot that was limed in the last 2 years will do well. <br>INSECTS: Pale, soft grey areas on the leaves are probably leaf miner damage. A mild infestation can be controlled by pinching the insect while it’s still inside the leaf. To prevent damage, cover the planting with floating row cover. Destroy any affected leaves and keep the surrounding area weeded. <br>SEEDSPEC: Minimum germination standard: 65%. Days to emergence: 6--21. Optimum soil temperature range for germination: 5--20 deg. C (45--70 deg. F). Days to maturity: from date of direct seeding. Approx. 50--80 seeds/g. Usual seed life: 1 season.</p><p>Spinach probably originated in southwest Asia or the Western Himalayas, and was first cultivated by the Persians, spreading into China from Nepal in the seventh century and Europe in the eleventh century, being introduced first to Spain by the Arabs. The name spinach is derived from the Arabic. Spinach reached England in the sixteenth century, being mentioned first in Turner's 'A New Herball' in 1551. Other wild species of Spinachia are found in North Africa and Iran eastwards to the Himalayas, but it is not clear from which wild species the cultivated spinach derived.</p>
