🌿 Spinach
Extremely hardy; the first choice for cool climates. Hates heat.
Spinach at a glance
Is Spinach frost tolerant?
Yes — it is one of the hardier crops. It shrugs off frost down to -8°C and is only killed below -15°C.
What temperature does Spinach grow best in?
It grows best between 5 and 22°C. Below 3°C it stops growing altogether, and above 25°C it slows down.
How many days does Spinach take to mature?
About 40–55 days. That is a typical figure: it needs roughly 550 °C·d of warmth above 3°C, so a warm season gets it there sooner and a cool one later. The city calendars below give the sow and harvest dates for each place.
Is Spinach a cool-season or warm-season crop?
A cool-season crop. It does best in the mild weather of spring and autumn (and through winter where winters are mild), and slows down in summer heat above 25°C.
What the numbers mean
These are the actual parameters this game runs on. Growth is driven by growing degree days: each day contributes max(0, min(mean temp, 28) − 3), and Spinach is ready when that total reaches 550. That is why the same seed takes a very different number of days in Dublin and in Guangzhou.
| Base temperature | 3°CBelow this, the plant accumulates no growing degree days at all. |
|---|---|
| Degree days to maturity | 550 °C·dThe heat budget it must accumulate before it is ready to pick. |
| Comfortable range | 5–22°CWhere it grows without stress. |
| Frost damage below | -8°CLeaves start taking frost damage below this low. |
| Killed below | -15°CBelow this it does not come back. |
| Heat stress above | 25°CAbove this the plant slows down and stops setting fruit well. |
| Typical time to harvest | 40–55 days |
| Yield per bed | 10 bunches |
Things worth knowing
- Spinach came from Persia, reaching China in the Tang dynasty as the "Persian herb".
- It survives −9°C outdoors, and frost actually makes it sweeter.
Where and when to sow Spinach
Pick your city to see the months when Spinach scores well against that city's real climate records: