Growing Orach (Mountain Spinach): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Orach, also called mountain spinach, is a heat-tolerant spinach substitute that keeps producing through summer weather that would send true spinach straight into bolting.
Unusually tolerant of both extremes
Direct-seed only, sown 1 to 2 inches apart and covered a quarter inch deep, in rows 18 to 30 inches apart, then thinned to 6 to 10 inches. Orach tolerates both hot and cold weather better than most greens, and is best planted from early spring through midsummer, a much wider planting window than a heat-sensitive crop would allow.
Keep picking to keep it producing
Pick leaves once plants reach about a foot tall. The plant continues sending up new young leaves after picking, so a single planting can supply a steady harvest rather than a one-time cut.
Orach has no well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. At 4 plants per square foot, it’s a good bridge crop in the Garden Designer for the gap between spring spinach bolting and fall spinach going back in.
Source: Orach (Mountain Spinach): Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Orach (Mountain Spinach) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 3-5 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant orach (mountain spinach), by zone
Every zone orach (mountain spinach) grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Not usually | May 6–May 13 | Jun 20–Jun 27 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | May 16–May 23 | Jun 30–Jul 7 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | May 1–May 8 | Jun 15–Jun 22 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | Apr 26–May 3 | Jun 10–Jun 17 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Apr 11–Apr 18 | May 26–Jun 2 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Mar 27–Apr 3 | May 11–May 18 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Mar 11–Mar 18 | Apr 25–May 2 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Feb 1–Feb 8 | Mar 18–Mar 25 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Jan 16–Jan 23 | Mar 2–Mar 9 |
| 11a & 11b | Not usually | Dec 18–Dec 25 | Feb 1–Feb 8 |
Harvest dates are about 45 days after the sow or plant-out date.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Orach (Mountain Spinach) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 3-5 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- 'Ruby Red' orach: Johnny's Selected Seeds' primary orach offering, a colorful red-leaved strain of the same heat-tolerant spinach alternative; the growing requirements are the same as the plain green form. (source)
- 'Copper Plume' orach (best for: cut-flower filler, texture): Johnny's Selected Seeds markets this as a productive filler that shimmers in arrangements, the same edible species as Ruby Red but grown and sold with cut-flower use in mind. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy orach seeds
True Leaf Market (each supplier's orach seeds)
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a clear consensus of positive, independent reviews, or ones we bought and use ourselves. Each item on our gear page says which.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing orach (mountain spinach)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
%3A%20A%20heat-tolerant%20spinach%20substitute%20that%20keeps%20producing%20through%20summer%20weather%20that%20would%20bolt%20true%20spinach%2C%20unusually%20tolerant%20of%20both%20hot%20and%20cold.)
Pin this for later
Growing Orach (Mountain Spinach): A heat-tolerant spinach substitute that keeps producing through summer weather that would bolt true spinach, unusually tolerant of both hot and cold.
Save to Pinterest