Spinach
Spinach Production
Spinach is a cool-season crop in the same family (Amaranthaceae) as Swiss chard and beets. This vegetable is grown for its nutritionally dense leaves. Spinach grows best in sandy loam soils low in salinity. Care should be taken to avoid oversaturating soils during irrigation.
California almost exclusively grows the smooth or flat leaf spinach cultivars. Because resistance to disease and bolting have been bred into them, only hybrid spinach cultivars are commercially grown in the state. Popularly grown cultivars include Avenger, Bolero, Bossanova, Dolphin, Emilia, Falcon, and Whale.
California has four spinach growing regions: the southern desert valleys (Imperial and Riverside Counties), the southern coast (Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties), the central coast (Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties), and the central San Joaquin Valley (Stanislaus and Tulare Counties). Monterey County produces the most spinach, with almost half of California’s acreage and production of the vegetable.