Room for beets, spinach and broccolini.

Room for beets, spinach and broccolini.

I mostly grow beets only where they can be put in between a main crop in places where there is not enough light for much else. They tend to be put between rows of corn or peas, but this year it should show how they do between broccolini, which end up being some pretty big plants. Previous attempts to plant, for example, lettuce in the middle rows have not been able to give a lettuce harvest that has been worth the effort.

It all started in February with the pre-cultivation of an early and reasonably cold-tolerant beetroot variety, which was then planted in the middle rows in late March. At the same time, spinach was sown in the main rows. The beets were covered with non-woven fabric or plastic at the prospect of frost to prevent later stocking.

The broccoli (3 varieties) was sown in early April and planted in early May, when the first spinach was harvested to make room for them. Then the spinach leaves are snatched as they shade the broccoli, where at some point, of course, the spinach is gone and the beets are left in the half shade in the middle rows. The beets are usually able to be harvested little by little from the second week of June, and with the lead they have gained, it should be able to turn into beets before the broccoli goes out completely. And if, contrary to expectations, it should not succeed, is such a trinity at least reasonable sex in the evening sun?

Written by Peter Norris