YOU could never describe winter spinach as an easy vegetable to grow, but it is at least easier than summer spinach.

In hot, dry weather the plants have a tendency to run to seed, which is one problem that’s unlikely to occur when the seeds are sown in September for eating in winter and spring.

Unfortunately, spinach isn’t too keen on cold, wet conditions either, so you’re still going to need a bit of luck.

First, make sure you buy the right type of seed, as different varieties are used for summer and winter. Those suitable for autumn sowing often give a clue in their names, such as Giant Winter or Early Prickly.

While summer spinach needs to grow in moist, shady ground, there is an argument for choosing an open and even slightly dry patch for overwintered crops, so they’re less likely to suffer from poor drainage. Both kinds, however, do want a rich, fertile soil.

The seeds can be sown directly into the ground, thinning them to about six inches apart, with twelve inches between the rows.

But in autumn the seedlings are likely to be attacked by slugs and snails, so I prefer to sow in modules or small pots, and then put the plants out once they’re well-established.

Many gardeners cover their spinach with cloches from October onwards — and many don’t.

By restricting air movement around the foliage, cloching may increase the risk of mildew, which can be a troublesome disease in damp, mild winters.

On the other hand, without cover the plants may not provide much to eat during frozen times. You could try cloching some rows and not others.

Once the leaves are big enough to pick, which of course depends on what you want to use them for, avoid stripping any single plant. Take leaves from several plants instead, because a drastically defoliated spinach will regrow slowly, if at all.

Leaves should be cut, not pulled, so as not to tug the roots loose. Ideally take only the leaves themselves: leaving the stems on the plant seems to help the spinach recover, perhaps by affording it some protection from frost.

Modern varieties of winter spinach are pretty frost-proof, but even so don’t be disheartened if you lose a few plants.

The same is true of slug damage: there will inevitably be some during milder spells of weather, but most of your crop will survive. And besides, the slug holes are invisible after the stuff’s been cooked.

If there isn’t much spinach to pick during the winter, don’t give up on the crop. When the days lengthen again in spring, you will probably see a final surge in growth, and in fact “winter” spinach can be at its most productive between March and May.

By late spring, though, your spinach will be putting up flower stalks, at which point it begins to turn bitter, and is best dug up and added to the compost heap.