How to Grow Palak (Spinach) at Home: Methi and Sarson in Pots
October is the month. Sow palak (spinach), methi and sarson in a wide, shallow pot between late September and November, give them 4 to 6 hours of sun, and you’ll be cutting leaves in 4 to 6 weeks and again every fortnight until the heat of March makes them flower. This guide covers how to grow palak at home from seed, plus methi and sarson, the pot size, spacing and watering, the pests that turn up, and an honest word on how much a pot actually gives.
Quick facts
- Sowing season: late September to November in the plains of Pakistan and north India; methi again in February
- Pot: 15 to 20 cm deep, as wide as you can fit, with drainage holes
- Sun: 4 to 6 hours of direct winter sun
- First cut: methi at 3 to 4 weeks, palak and sarson at 5 to 6 weeks
- Ends when: days warm past about 25 °C and plants send up flower stalks
Prefer to listen? This post as a 4 min video · Video page with transcript
Can you grow spinach in a pot? Yes, and here’s the pot
Width beats depth.
Leafy greens have short, spreading roots that stay mostly in the top 15 cm of soil, so a deep narrow pot wastes mix and a wide shallow one gives you twice the leaves from the same bag of soil.
A trough or tub 15 to 20 cm deep and 45 to 60 cm long is ideal for palak and methi. An old plastic crate lined with a sack, a cut-down 20-litre drum, or a row of cleaned ghee tins all work, as long as water can run out of the bottom. Drill or punch 4 to 6 holes of about 1 cm. Sarson grows taller and roots deeper, so give it at least 25 cm of depth or a big grow bag.
Fill with a loose mix: roughly two parts sieved garden mitti to one part compost or old gobar khad, with a handful of cocopeat or coarse sand per bucket so it doesn’t set hard. Plain brick-hard soil suffocates roots. Greens sulk in it.
Sun matters most. Four hours is the minimum, six is better, and winter sun on a roof or south-facing balcony is exactly what these plants want. Palak copes with a little shade. Sarson doesn’t.
How to grow palak from seeds, plus methi and sarson
Each green has its own depth and spacing, and getting those two right matters more than any fertiliser you could buy, because seeds sown too deep never surface and seedlings sown too close stay spindly and small. The steps fit a 45 by 30 cm trough.
- Palak: soak seeds in water overnight (8 to 12 hours) to soften the hard coat. Sow 1 to 1.5 cm deep, about 5 cm apart. Expect shoots in 7 to 14 days; cold weather is slower. Thin to 10 cm apart once they have 3 or 4 leaves, and eat the thinnings.
- Methi: kitchen methi dana grows fine. Scatter about 1 tablespoon of seed over the surface, cover with 0.5 cm of mix and pat down. Shoots appear in 3 to 5 days.
- Sarson: sow 1 cm deep in a deeper pot, 3 or 4 seeds per spot, spots 20 cm apart. Keep the strongest seedling at each spot.
- Water gently with a mug or a rose-head can until water drips from the holes, and after that water only when the top 2 cm feels dry to your finger, which in a cool December week may be every 2 to 3 days and on a warm windy afternoon may be daily.
- Every 3 to 4 weeks, sprinkle 2 to 3 handfuls of compost or vermicompost over the surface and water it in. Greens are hungry for nitrogen, and pale leaves are the first sign they want feeding.
- For a steady supply, sow a new short row every 2 to 3 weeks until late November instead of filling every pot on one day.
Soya (dill) and bathua love the same season and the same pot. Scatter a pinch of soya seed in a corner, and if bathua pops up on its own, as it often does from old soil, let it grow for a raita.
Harvesting: cut and come again
Here a pot beats the market. You pick only what you’ll cook today.
- Palak: once plants have 6 to 8 leaves, snap or snip the outer leaves at the base when they’re about 10 to 15 cm long. Leave the small centre leaves to keep growing. You’ll pick again in 10 to 14 days.
- Methi: at 3 to 4 weeks, cut the whole patch 3 to 4 cm above the soil. It sprouts back once or twice before it gets tough and woody.
- Sarson: pick young leaves and tender stem tips from about 5 weeks. Older leaves go stringy and very pungent.
Pick in the morning. Afternoon leaves wilt fast.
A trough of palak won’t make a family’s saag. It will make your raita, your paratha and your daal greener all winter.
How much does a pot actually give?
Less than the videos suggest. A 45 by 30 cm trough of palak gives a couple of good handfuls every fortnight, enough to stir into a pot of daal, fill a few parathas or make a small bowl of palak raita. Methi from the same trough gives about one generous bunch per cut.
Sarson ka saag is the one that disappoints. A proper pot of saag for a family needs a large armful of leaves, cooked down to a fraction of its size. One or two pots of sarson give you enough for a small portion, or to mix with palak and bathua the way many homes do anyway. Grow it for the pleasure and the freshness, not to stop buying.
For kitchen ideas, our fresh methi guide covers cleaning and cooking the leaves, and the soya (dill) guide has aloo soya and sowa saag.
Why is my spinach flowering, yellow or full of holes?
Flowering (bolting)
Palak is a cool-weather plant that reads day length. When days get longer and warmer, around February or March in the plains, it sends up a tall central stalk, the leaves shrink and turn bitter, and that’s the end. You can’t reverse it. Pull the plant, pick any decent leaves, and sow something for summer. Methi and sarson do the same. Sarson’s yellow flowers are edible, though.
For summer greens, sow chaulai (amaranth) or poi (Malabar spinach), which love the heat palak hates.
Yellow leaves
A few old bottom leaves yellowing is normal. Many yellow leaves at once usually means soggy soil (check the holes aren’t blocked), or hungry soil that needs compost. Very cold, foggy nights can also yellow leaf edges.
Pests
- Leaf miner: wiggly white or pale tunnels inside palak and methi leaves. A tiny larva is eating between the two skins of the leaf, safe from anything you spray on the surface, which is exactly why picking beats spraying here. Pick off tunnelled leaves and put them in the bin (not the compost). Check the undersides for rows of small white eggs and rub them off.
- Aphids: clusters of tiny green, grey or black insects on sarson tips and palak undersides. Blast them off with a jet of water every couple of days. Squash the rest.
- Caterpillars: ragged holes in sarson. Pick them off by hand in the early morning.
- White powder on methi: powdery mildew. Remove the worst leaves, water the soil not the leaves, and give more space and sun.
Leaves you’re going to eat within days should never get a chemical insecticide spray from the market. Water, fingers and removing damaged leaves handle most balcony problems.
Wash every leaf well. Garden soil can carry bacteria and worm eggs, so soak the leaves in a big bowl of water, lift them out (the grit sinks), and repeat 2 or 3 times until no sand is left at the bottom. Cook greens properly, or wash extra carefully if they’re going into a raw raita. Wear gloves or wash your hands with soap after handling soil, and keep small children from eating it. Kidney disease: palak is high in potassium and oxalate, so if you have kidney disease or have had kidney stones, ask your doctor or dietitian how much suits you. Warfarin: palak, methi and sarson are rich in vitamin K; keep your greens steady rather than eating a lot one week and none the next, and tell the clinic checking your INR. Babies under 6 months have nothing but milk; for weaning, serve greens freshly cooked, without salt, and don’t keep cooked spinach puree warm for hours.
Did you know? What we call a palak seed is really a small dry fruit holding the seed inside, which is why it has a hard coat and likes an overnight soak. And methi is a legume, a cousin of daal, whose roots host bacteria that help feed the plant nitrogen. More kitchen-to-garden ideas live in the Zero-Waste Kitchen section.
Growing palak and greens at home: your questions
How to grow palak at home?
Soak the seed overnight, sow it 1 to 1.5 cm deep in a wide pot of loose soil and compost, and keep it in 4 to 6 hours of sun. In the plains, sow between late September and November. The first leaves are ready in about 5 to 6 weeks.
What size pot do I need to grow spinach?
At least 15 to 20 cm deep, and as wide as possible. A 45 by 30 cm trough holds 12 to 15 palak plants at 10 cm spacing. Width gives you more leaves; extra depth doesn’t.
How long does palak take to grow?
Seeds sprout in 7 to 14 days, and outer leaves are ready to pick about 5 to 6 weeks after sowing. Plants keep producing for 2 to 3 months if you only take the outer leaves.
Why is my spinach not growing?
The usual reasons are too little sun, hard soil that stays wet, or no food in the mix. Move the pot to at least 4 hours of direct sun, loosen the top layer and add compost. Sowing in hot weather also stalls palak.
Can I grow palak in summer?
Not well in the plains. Heat and long days make palak bolt within weeks. In summer, grow chaulai (amaranth) or poi (Malabar spinach) instead. In the hills, palak grows through spring and summer.
Can I grow methi from kitchen methi seeds?
Yes. Methi dana from the kitchen germinates in 3 to 5 days. Scatter it thickly, cover lightly and cut the leaves at 3 to 4 weeks.
How often should I water palak in a pot?
Water when the top 2 cm of soil feels dry. In cool December weather that’s often every 2 to 3 days; on warm, windy days it may be daily. Soggy soil rots roots, so make sure water drains out.
What is eating my spinach leaves?
Wiggly pale tunnels inside the leaf are leaf miner. Holes and chewed edges point to caterpillars or snails. Tiny insects clustered underneath are aphids. Pick off damaged leaves and wash aphids away with a jet of water.
Is homegrown palak safe for someone with kidney stones?
Palak is high in oxalate whether homegrown or bought. If you’ve had kidney stones or have kidney disease, ask your doctor or dietitian how often and how much palak suits you.
Can I grow sarson in a pot?
Yes, in a pot at least 25 cm deep with full sun. Pick young leaves from about 5 weeks. A pot gives a small amount, so many people mix it with palak and bathua for saag.