Hi Gardeners,
On this podcast , I talked about ‘Monstrueux de Viroflay. As I don’t speak French, I sure it was unintelligible so here’s the scoop. It translates to “monstrous of Viroflay” for the incredibly large leaves that are up to 10″ long and 8″ wide, dark green, thick, and tender. It survives both more heat and more cold than any other spinach I’ve planted. This variety is a very old heirloom from Viroflay, France. It is in the parent line of many modern day hybrids, and has been listed in the USA since 1866. I am sure this spinach is Popeye approved.
Also, ‘hardening off’ came up. This means that when you buy seedlings (baby plants) from a nursery, you can’t plant them straight into the ground. They have been in the warm and misty greenhouse – they need to grow and toughen a bit before facing the cold, the heat, the bugs, the pets of all things outside. It would be like putting a year old baby at a piano in Carnegie Hall and expecting them to play Mozart. They would flail around for awhile and then go to sleep. Nobody wants that.
So you leave them outside for a couple of hours a day at first, then bring them in. Every day you lengthen the time they spend outside. Depending on the size of the plant, I would say 5-7 days is the amount of time I spend hardening off. Of course it depends on the weather where you are. Just don’t let them get too much direct sun or too much cold before they’re ready.
If you grow your own seedlings, you’ll have gotten used to bringing the seedlings in and out. You’re a master and you know what to do.