How to Grow Kale and Spinach

Prepare the garden soil early in the spring or late in the summer. Cultivate the soil down to a depth of about 6 inches with the garden spade. Add 3 to 4 inches of compost over the soil to improve drainage and increase the nutrient level in the soil. Rake the soil smooth after you've finished working it.

Make rows for the kale approximately 24 inches apart and rows for the spinach about 14 inches apart. Create furrows approximately 1/2-inch deep with the hoe to make the rows.

Plant the kale seeds 3 inches apart and the spinach seeds 4 inches apart in the prepared rows. Cover the seeds with 1/2 inch of soil.

Mark the rows with labels to enable you to remember what you planted in each row.

Water the seeds immediately after planting. Keep the soil evenly moist during germination and while the plants grow to produce tender and flavorful greens.

Thin both the kale and spinach to a final spacing of 12 inches when the plants become approximately 3 to 4 inches tall. Remove the weakest plants by pulling them from the soil.

Mulch the kale plants when they reach a height of 6 inches. Place the hay or straw over the soil around the plants to keep the foliage off the soil. Mulch the spinach in similar fashion, if you desire.

Apply a side dressing of compost to both the kale and spinach about halfway through the growing season. Sprinkle the compost along the rows approximately 4 to 6 inches away from the plants, and work it in with a hand rake.

Remove weeds as they occur by cutting them off at soil level. Both kale and spinach have shallow root systems that you could easily disrupt by pulling weeds.

Harvest kale when the plants reach a height of between 8 and 10 inches. Cut off the outer leaves only with the scissors, or cut the entire plants off about 2 inches above the soil. Harvest spinach by cutting leaves when they become about 4 inches long or by cutting off the entire plant 3 inches above the soil.

Check both the kale and spinach within about two to three weeks of harvesting the entire plants, and you may find new shoots to harvest.