Beetroot out - beetroot in

Beetroot out - beetroot in

The earliest beets, which are grown between overwintering bulbs, have now reached a nice "baby" size, so the first ones could be harvested.

The largest ones have been picked from the outer rows as far as possible, as there are already some pole beans (sown 10 days ago) in root trainers and trippers in order to be planted in the bed edges.

Thus, there is often some tension involved when constantly trying to pre-cultivate something new to replace what one is harvesting.

Either the pre-cultivated ones may have to wait too long in the pots before there is room to plant (in which case you can often repot into slightly larger pots during the waiting period), or the free space may be empty for too long because the replacement is not yet large. enough to get out.

In this case, where beans replace beets and onions, it seems to stick together fairly well.

An advantage of beets is that they thrive in the shade between tall crops.

When they are pre-cultivated rather than sown directly, they have leaves from the start with a size that can gather the necessary solar energy without being completely outcompeted by the tall plants. And when the light down between the peas, for example, is more or less closed off, they can stand a little in a pile, but only grow further when the peas are gradually harvested.

Another combination that works excellently is to plant beets in the middle rows a few weeks before planting corn - here you can harvest large beets even before you can harvest corn.

Written by Peter Norris, June 4, 2018