Popeye had it right

You just can’t top spinach for versatility and healthy goodness. It’s packed with calcium, vitamins A and C, fiber, folic acid and magnesium. The flavonoids in spinach help protect against age related memory loss and it’s recommended for controlling cancer, especially colon, lung and breast cancers.

Recent e. coli deaths and illnesses attributed to salmonella in tainted bagged spinach has unfortunately dampened the reputation of this noteworthy vegetable. All the more reason to grow your own. The spinach I sowed earlier this year is now starting to go to seed and I’ll plant a bit of that to keep it growing. Why spend dollars on bags of baby spinach when you can harvest your own six weeks from planting?

This green, like many of the other dark, leafy vegetables that are so good for you, is frost tolerant. You could still be picking it at Christmas time.

Spinach is a heavy feeder so enrich the soil with plenty of organic matter and feed with a fertilizer that’s high in nitrogen. A light mulch of grass clippings is beneficial. It needs even moisture for good growth.

If you find it a chore to wash crinkled spinach and still end up with a bit of grit, try growing a smooth-leaved variety like Giant Nobel or Olympia.

Baby's Leaf Hybrid and Melody are especially good for container growing. Use spinach in place of lettuce in sandwiches and as “bedding” for fruit salad or three-bean salad.

Ever wonder why eating raw spinach makes your teeth feel funny? This green contains oxalic acid, which supposedly slightly etches the surface of the teeth.

To improve absorption of iron, the mineral that spinach is most famous for, eat it with vitamin C-rich foods such as orange juice, tomatoes, or citrus fruit like lemon or lime. The “shrinkage rate” of this vegetable is notorious - expect what you put in the pot to be reduced to one quarter. One pound of raw spinach equals approximately one cup of cooked spinach.

Biomedical research connected with spinach continues. In late 2004, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers incorporated this plant's ability to convert sunlight to energy into a solid-state electronic "spinach sandwich" device in hopes that it may one day power laptops and cell phones.