Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi.
I am on my third showing of spinach seeds but no germination. I am sowing directly into fine, well drained soil and watering regularly. Everything else around is coming up: lettuce, rocket, spring onions, radishes but NO spinach!
Please help.

If it,s any consolation this happened to my first sowing of Swiss chard seeds which are not dissimilar. Although I watered immediately afterwards I think soil was just too dry for them. On second sowing I scraped out a shallow drill in the earth and gave it a thorough soaking before sowing the seeds. And then soaked the soil again after covering with earth. They're quite tough Seeds and possibly need extra moisture to aid germination.

How old is the packet of seeds? Older ones have a smaller prospect of germinating especially if they,ve been stored in a warm place for long periods of time.

Like Primrose says, soaking the seeds overnight (the same as for chard and beetroot) seems to 'waken them up'. If that fails, can you sow them in trays indoors or in a greenhouse and transplant them?