Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Growing spinachAs a kid I never really liked spinach. We had kid’s shows on tellie that were based on this vegetable, and I reckon it was to promote the green sludge to the younger generation. Popeye the Sailorman was the marketing tool – he was strong and healthy.And to be quite honest, spinach is a good source of iron and calcium, plus vitamins, protein and minerals. Good for skin, hair, nails (keratin) and calcium of course for bone health. It also contains Oxalic Acid (the stuff that makes the leaves of Rhubarb “poisonous”) and this has the habit of disrupting the uptake of iron and calcium.  Cooking spinach breaks down the oxalic acid and voila! All good again. Some people believe the marketing myth of “Super Food”. Absolute rubbish! It’s just good food. I prefer it over “silverbeet”.  It’s easy to grow, really. Either from seeds or from seedlings in punnets.   You’ll need good, well-drained soil mixtures with plenty of compost. Seeds usually germinate within 2 weeks. Thin to about 7 cm spacing in a row;