New Zealand Spinach
Catalina Spinach is a fast-maturing leafy green that reaches harvest in just 40 days, making it perfect for gardeners eager to see results. This cultivar thrives in full sun and performs best when grown during cool seasons, sow in spring for an early harvest or again in late summer for a productive fall crop. With straightforward care and a short time from seed to table, Catalina delivers tender spinach leaves when you need them most.
Full Sun
Moderate
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What makes Catalina stand out is its speed and reliability in cool-season gardens. At 40 days to harvest, you'll be picking leaves in less than six weeks from sowing. The variety responds beautifully to succession planting, allowing you to stagger sowings for continuous harvest rather than a single glut. Spinach like this thrives on consistent moisture and thinning, rewarding attentive gardeners with abundant, tender leaves perfect for salads and cooking.
Catalina Spinach is grown primarily for fresh consumption, harvest tender leaves for salads when plants are young and succulent, or wait until plants are established to pick individual outer leaves while letting the plant continue producing. The leaves are equally suited to cooking, wilting down beautifully in warm dishes or retaining their texture in stir-fries and sautés.
Sow Catalina Spinach directly into garden soil at a depth of 1/2 inch. Plant in early spring as soon as soil is workable, or in late summer for a fall crop. Space seeds about 2 to 3 inches apart and keep soil consistently moist until seedlings emerge.
Begin harvesting Catalina Spinach once plants are well-established, about 40 days from sowing. You can pick individual outer leaves from mature plants and allow the center to regrow for multiple harvests, or harvest entire plants by cutting them at soil level. Either approach works well, though leaf-by-leaf harvesting extends production from a single planting. Keep plants watered and weeded during the harvest window to encourage continued productivity.
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