Alkaline soil tends to be kinder to spinach plants

Q. In the past few years I’ve done everything I can think of to grow a nice patch of spinach, with miserable results. Germination is always poor, and the few seeds that do sprout grow into stubby little disappointments that are entirely unusable. I garden at the coast now. I grew beautiful spinach in the interior of the province.
A. This is a common frustration, often voiced by home gardeners who have moved here from interior locations where the soils tend to be alkaline. Our rainy climate