Spinach and leaf beets

August is a good time to sow spinach - according to the books - but what Spinach?

Joy Larkcom says that several different plants are popularly termed spinach (and a rummage through my seed packets confirms this!).
1. True or ordinary spinach. Spinacia oleracea
2. Leaf beet Beta vulgaris subsp cicla.. This includes perpetual spinach also known as spinach beet, silver beet and Swiss chard, also know as seakale beet and silver chard.
3. New Zealand spinach - Tetragonia expansa
4. Mountain spinach - Atriplex hortensis aka Orache.

Another that I know -
5. Tree spinach - Magentaspreen, Chenopodium giganteum

I'm about to sow 1 and 2 but its not that simple.
There are 2 sorts of Ordinary spinach - heat tolerant "round seeded" types for summer crops and "prickly seeded" types for autumn/winter. I have Giant Winter spinach seeds so take that as a clue to them being prickly seeded. The rest I'm not so sure about!!

At this point I'm starting to realise why I rarely grow spinach and, if I do, have little success with it. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure that I like it!!

Maybe I'll stick to Swiss chard - its prettier than spinach.

Any spinach growers here who'd care to share their experiences?